The attack was the seventh massacre in the United States this year, following the March 16 shooting that killed eight people at three massage parlors in Atlanta, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
This follows a silence in massacres during the pandemic in 2020, which according to the database had the smallest number of attacks in more than a decade, more than a decade, defining massacres, defined as four or more dead, the shooter not included.
The murdered officer was identified as Eric Talley, 51, who has been with Boulder police since 2010, Herold said. He went to the store after a call about shots and someone carrying a gun, she said.
“He was by all accounts one of the outstanding officers of the Boulder Police Department, and his life was cut short,” Dougherty said of Talley.
The identities of the other nine victims were not disclosed Monday night as police continued to notify their relatives.
Matthew Kirsch, the acting U.S. attorney for Colorado, promised that the full weight of federal law enforcement would support the investigation. He said investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene with FBI agents.
Officers escorted a shirtless man with blood running down his leg in handcuffs, but authorities did not say whether he was the suspect. They did say the suspect was receiving medical care and was the only injured person who did not die.
Officials did not say whether the suspect was the person who was taken from the shooting scene to Foothills Hospital in Boulder. The hospital will not release any further information about the patient, said Rich Sheehan, spokeswoman for Boulder Community Health, which manages the hospital.
Dean Schiller told The Associated Press that he had just left the supermarket when 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.”
In the video posted on YouTube, one person was shown on the floor in the store and two others outside on the ground. What sounds like two gunshots is also heard at the beginning of the video.
Law enforcement vehicles and officers gathered outside the store, including SWAT teams, and at least three helicopters landed on the roof. Some windows in front of the store were broken.
At one point, authorities said with a loudspeaker that the building was surrounded and that you had to surrender.
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.”
Police told people to hide in their place amid the report of an ‘armed, dangerous individual’ about 5 kilometers from the grocery store, but later said at the news conference that it was not related to the shooting.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting.
In a statement, the King Soopers chain offered ‘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.
___
Nieberg is a corps member for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on national issues.