A Boulder, Colorado supermarket was the site of the second major mass shooting in America in a week after a string of killings in Atlanta last week. A man opened fire on the supermarket’s patrons Monday afternoon leaving 10 dead. Boulder Police have taken a suspect into custody. Among the victims are a Boulder police officer and the supermarket’s manager.
Police were called to the Boulder King Soopers after reports of gunfire at 2:40 p.m. MT. Witness Anna Haynes, editor-in-chief of the University of Colorado’s CU Independent, saw the events unfold from her apartment across the street. She first recounted seeing “a body in the middle of the parking lot. ”
“I also saw the gunman himself holding a semiautomatic rifle … On his way to the entrance, had turned around and was shooting rapid-fire at one particular target,” Haynes continued. “And then he turned around, he entered the building through the handicap entrance. And a few seconds later, I saw people running out of the building, I heard screaming, I heard people leaving in their cars, and it just evolved into chaos within just a couple of minutes.”
Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said on Monday evening that one of the victims was Officer Eric Talley, who was the first officer to reach the scene. “Officer Talley responded to the scene, was first on the scene, and he was fatally shot,” Herold said in a press conference.
Police arrested the suspected shooter, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, at the scene less than an hour after shots were fired at the supermarket. Helicopter footage showed the man bleeding from the leg and then being transferred to an ambulance. “I promise the victims and the people of the state of Colorado, that we will secure justice and do everything we must do to get justice in this case, in order for that to happen, a painstaking investigation is already underway, both at the crime scene and in interviews to make sure we receive all the accurate information,” Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in a press conference soon after the shooting.
