Ten people, including a police officer, were killed in a shooting incident in Colorado, Unites States, on Monday, reported AP. The police have arrested a suspect but did not reveal his name or other details about the shooting.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said at a press conference that investigators have just began sorting through evidence and witness interviews and did not have much information about the shooting at the King Soopers store in Boulder, which is about 40 km northwest of Denver.
“This is a tragedy and a nightmare for Boulder County,” Dougherty said. “These were people going about their day, doing their shopping. I promise the victims and the people of the state of Colorado that we will secure justice.”
Boulder police chief Maris Herold said the deceased police officer was 51-year-old Eric Talley, who was with the department for 10 years. Herold said that Talley went to the store after a call about shots fired and someone carrying a rifle.
“He was by all accounts one of the outstanding officers of the Boulder Police Department, and his life was cut too short,” Dougherty said about Talley.
The shooting began around 2.30 pm local time when the suspect entered the grocery store, BBC reported. The Boulder Police tweeted some 20 minutes later that an “active shooter at the King Soopers”, asking people to avoid the area.
Video footage on YouTube and social media showed one person on the floor inside the store and two more outside on the ground. Law enforcement vehicles and officers, including SWAT teams, could be seen outside the store, and at least three helicopters landed on the roof.
Authorities were also heard saying over a loudspeaker that the building was surrounded, telling the suspect: “You need to surrender”.
A video by ABC News showed a shirtless person being taken away in handcuffs from the crime scene.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis also tweeted about the incident. “My heart is breaking as we watch this unspeakable event unfold in our Boulder community,” he said. “We are making every public safety resource available to assist the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department as they work to secure the store.”
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
This was the seventh mass killing in the US this year, following the March 16 shooting that left eight people dead at three Atlanta-area massage businesses, according to a database compiled by AP, USA Today and Northeastern University.
It follows a period of quietness in mass killing incidents during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, when the smallest number of such attacks were reported in more than a decade, according to the database. The database tracks mass killings defined as four or more dead, not including the shooter.
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