A gunman killed 10 people on Monday in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, including one police officer.
Boulder police said one person is in custody after officers responded to multiple calls of shots fired near a King Soopers grocery store and a call about a person possibly “with a patrol rifle.”
“We had a very tragic incident today,” Commander Kerry Yamaguchi of the Boulder Police Department said during a Monday evening news conference. “There was loss of life, we have multiple people who were killed in this incident, and I am sorry to have to report that one of them was a Boulder police officer.”
At a second news conference just over an hour later, Boulder Police chief Maris Herold said there were 10 fatalities, including Officer Eric Talley. The 51-year-old was one of the first police officers on the scene when the gunman fatally shot him, according to Herold, who called Talley’s actions “heroic.”
Yamaguchi said the suspect in custody had sustained injuries. Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty identified the injured person as the shooter.
The Boulder Police Department tweeted at 2:49pm MDT for the public to avoid the supermarket due to an active shooter in the building. Law enforcement responded within minutes after a 911 call.
Police: We have multiple victims who lost their lives. One of the victims is a Boulder police officer. Asking media to honor families' privacy.
— Boulder Police Dept. (@boulderpolice) March 23, 2021
Multiple federal agencies, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting the state in its investigations. Local officials said they would do everything they could for the victims, to “fight for them and their families.”
“This is a tragedy and a nightmare for Boulder County,” Dougherty said at the first news conference, adding that there is already an investigation underway. “We will stand united in support of the victims and their families to ensure that justice is done.”
At a second press conference, Dougherty encouraged people nationwide to send their thoughts and prayers to families of victims, but “from my perspective, there’s more for us to do than to just give them our thoughts and prayers.”
“This is not the first mass shooting we’ve had in the state of Colorado,” he said. “One thing that’s happened in response to each and every one, including today’s horrific acts, is the response that we have from” law enforcement, victim advocates, investigators and prosecutors.
A man who identified himself as a videographer and journalist said in a YouTube livestream that he was near the King Soopers when he heard several gunshots. The videographer, who was later identified as Dean Schiller in an interview with the local Fox station, said he saw multiple “bodies on the ground,” including one outside the store’s front door and one in the parking lot.
“Hey, guys, I have a couple friends in there, so let’s pray that they’re doing all right,” said the man, whose YouTube account ZFG Videography describes his work as documenting Boulder-area police activity.
A witness told KDVR-TV that he was on his way to pick up coffee at the supermarket when he came upon the shooting scene.
“I was in shock initially, when we realised what was happening,” he told the station. “Once I called my mom and said I was OK and let her know what was happening, it all kind of sunk in, and I started panicking.”