As we begin to cautiously hope for the winding down of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, we are also beginning to see the resurgence of another fatal sickness ailing America.
Ten people were shot dead on Monday afternoon in a mass attack led by an unnamed suspect in a grocery store in Boulder, Colo., reports USA Today. A police officer is among the dead, identified as 51-year-old Eric Talley, who arrived on the scene at King Soopers grocery store in response to calls that shots had been fired at the location by someone carrying a rifle.
The shooting is the second to take place in the U.S. in the space of a week, following Robert Long’s killing of eight people—including six Asian women—in Atlanta.
The unidentified suspect in the Boulder shooting was taken into custody by officers and is currently receiving hospital treatment, but law enforcement have yet to reveal any other details, such as his name. They did say he was the only person in the incident to receive non-fatal injuries, according to USA Today.
Videos posted online, purportedly from the scene of the shooting, show a white man being led away by two police officers while one of his legs appears to be covered in blood.
It is likely to take a few more days for specific details to unfold, said authorities.
From CNN:
The investigation into Monday’s shooting at the King Soopers supermarket in Boulder was “very complex,” and would take no less than five days to complete, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said.
Ten people, including Boulder police officer Eric Talley, 51, were killed in the shooting, according to police. The suspect was taken into custody and is being treated for injuries, officials said.
Michael Dougherty, district attorney for Boulder County, said local, state, and federal partners will share in the investigation as well as prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office.
Dougherty promised the families of the victims that he would do everything he could “to get justice in this case.”
Ryan Borowski, a person who was in the grocery store when the attack occurred, described a scene of terror in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon.
“After the first two shots, I saw somebody running towards me with a terrified look on their face,” said Borowski. “The employees who were working there didn’t know what was going on yet, so we had to tell them, ‘gun, gun, gun. Run, run, run.’”
“Our community anxiously awaits more information on the victims,” said Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in a statement on the shooting released Monday night. “We all mourn their senseless killing and our sense of safety in our local grocery store.”
“As spring sprung this weekend, and vaccines continue to get into arms, lightness creeped back in only for the darkness to descend on us again today,” added Gov. Polis.
“While there is still a lot we do not yet know, one thing is very clear—tragic incidents of gun violence have plagued our country for far too long,” said Rep. Joe Neguse, Democratic congressman from Colorado.
A planned Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence prevention will take place in Congress on Tuesday.
“It’s long past time to act on this nation’s gun violence epidemic,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Monday.
Indeed.
Updated: 3/23/2021, 1:15 p.m. ET: Officials have named 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, a resident of a Colorado suburb, as the suspect in Monday night’s mass shooting. Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said at a press conference Tuesday that the suspect has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, reports CNN.
Police have also named all 10 victims of the shooting. According to AP, they are: Denny Strong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Teri Leiker, 51; Eric Talley, 51; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65. Investigators have not established a motive for the attack.