Daily US Times: Authorities in Colorado said a mass shooting at a supermarket in the state killed 10 people Monday, including a police officer who was the first to respond to the scene.
Police arrested a suspect, but did not reveal his name or any details about the incident at an evening news conference where Boulder police Chief Maris Herold fought back tears.
Investigators had just begun sorting through witness interviews and evidence and did not have details on a motive for the shooting.
“This is a tragedy and a nightmare for Boulder County,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said about the shooting at the King Soopers store in Boulder, which is about 25 miles northwest of Denver and home to the University of Colorado.
“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,”
The attack was the seventh mass killing this year in the United States, following the March 16 shooting that left 8 people dead at three Atlanta spas, according to a database compiled by Northeastern University, USA Today and The Associated Press.
It follows a lull in mass killings during the coronavirus pandemic in last year, which had the smallest number of such mass shooting in more than a decade, the database shows, which tracks mass killings defined as 4 or more dead, not including the shooter.
The murdered officer was identified as 51-year-old Eric Talley, who had been with Boulder police since 2010. The police officer went to the supermarket after a call about shots fired and someone carrying a rifle, she said.
Dougherty said of Talley: “He was by all accounts one of the outstanding officers of the Boulder Police Department, and his life was cut too short.”
Identities of the other nine victims were not yet revealed Monday night as police were still notifying their family members.
Matthew Kirsch, the acting US attorney for the state of Colorado, pledged that “the full weight of federal law enforcement” will support the investigation.
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