A shooting at a supermarket in Colorado on Monday killed 10 people, including a police officer, and a suspect was in custody, authorities said.
Boulder Police Cmdr. Kerry Yamaguchi told a news conference that the suspect was being treated but did not give further details about the shooting or how many people were killed. A while later, police said ten people, including a police officer, were killed.
Officers escorted a shirtless man with blood under his leg in handcuffs from the store, but authorities would not say if it was the suspect.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said authorities know how many people were killed and suggested they not disclose the number because they need to notify families of the victims.
Yamaguchi said police are still investigating and have no details on the motives.
A man who had just left the store in Boulder, Dean Schiller, told The Associated Press that he heard gunshots and saw three people lying face down, two in the parking lot and one near the door. He said he “could not know if they were breathing.”
On the video posted on YouTube, one person appeared on the floor in the King Soopers store and two others outside on the ground, but the extent of their injuries was not clear. What sounds like two gunshots is also heard at the beginning of the video.
One person was taken from the shooting scene to Foothills Hospital in Boulder, said Rich Sheehan, spokeswoman for Boulder Community Health, which operates the hospital. Sheehan said he could not provide additional details, but said that “we have been informed that we will not receive any additional patients.”
Law enforcement vehicles and officers gathered outside the store, including SWAT teams, and at least three helicopters landed on the roof in the city where the University of Colorado is located and about 40 miles northwest of Denver.
Some windows in front of the store were broken. At one point, authorities said over a loudspeaker that the building was surrounded and that you had to surrender. They said they would come out with their hands up and unarmed.
Sarah Moonshadow told the Denver Post that two shots were fired just after she and her son, Nicolas Edwards, finished buying strawberries. She said she told her son to get off and then “we just run.”
After they got outside, she said they saw a corpse in the parking lot. Edwards said police quickly chased the yard and pulled up next to the body.
“I knew we could do nothing for the man,” he said. “We had to go.”
James Bentz told the Post he was in the meat department when he heard what he thought was a wrong fire, when a series of pops.
“I was in a rush then,” he said.
Bentz said he jumped back from a loading dock to escape and that younger people were helping older people with it.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis tweeted a statement that he “breaks heart as we watch this unspeakable event unfold in our Boulder community.” He calls it “a very active situation” and says the state “makes every public safety resource available to assist the sheriff’s department in Boulder County while they work to secure the store.”
Boulder police told people to hide in their place amid an ‘armed, dangerous individual’ about 5 kilometers from the grocery store, but it was later lifted and police vehicles were seen leaving the residential area near the city center and the University. . of Colorado. They said they were investigating whether the report was related to the shooting in the supermarket, but said at the news conference that it was not related.
The FBI said it was assisting in the investigation at the request of Boulder police.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting.
In a statement, the King Soopers chain offers’ thoughts, prayers and support to our associates, customers and the first responders who responded so bravely to this tragic situation. We will continue to work with local law enforcement and our store will remain closed during the police investigation. ”
Kevin Daly, owner of Under the Sun Eatery and Pizzeria Restaurant, a block from the supermarket, says he was in his store when he saw police vehicles arriving and shopping from the grocery store. He said he took in several people to keep them warm, and others boarded a bus provided by Boulder police and were taken away.
___
Associated Press reporters James Anderson and Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this story.