Boulder Shooting: Multiple Injuries, Residents Take Shelter as Police Look For Gunman

ABC News Staff wrote:Multiple people have reportedly been injured after a suspect opened fire at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, Monday afternoon, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

A source said officers responded to a report of someone being shot in the parking lot, and when they arrived at the scene, a suspect opened fire on them.

Several other law enforcement agencies quickly arrived at the scene, including the state SWAT team.

The Boulder Police Department took to Twitter at 2:49 p.m. local time to warn residents of an "active shooter" and telling them to stay away from the area.

Then, at 7:10 p.m. EST, they tweeted out an alert asking people about three miles from the shopping center "to shelter in place" while officers responded to a report of an "armed, dangerous individual."

The order was lifted around 8:41 p.m.

"PD is investigating to determine if this is related to King Soopers shooting," the police department wrote.

Eyewitnesses shared videos from the parking lot of the store on social media. The videos show officers ordering a suspect to come out of the store with his hands up and surrender.

Inside the store, shoppers and employees were seen trying to flee or hide.

The suspect was allegedly carrying a long gun, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Andy Arellano, a store employee, told ABC affiliate KMGH he was concerned for his co-workers and shoppers as shots rang out.

"We were like sitting ducks, you know, and that's one thing that I'm reliving it and looking at it in my head. And that, that bothers me, I'm still shivering, I'm still shaking," he said.

Eyewitness Andrew Hummel told KMGH he was at a store when he heard the gunshots and ran out of the shopping center with others.

"Everybody kind of sprinted toward the back of the store," Hummel told the station.

Hummel said his roommate, who works at the store where the shooting happened, went to a storage room and hid there with some customers, texting Hummel and others updates.

"Yeah, I think one of the biggest scary text[s] that he sent he just said, 'I love you guys, like thank you for everything, in case, like, things go bad,'" Hummel said. "That was a really hard text ... that's something that I would never want to hear from any of my friends because I knew the seriousness of what was going on and I was horrified. It was truly horrifying."

Sarah Moonshadow, another eyewitness, told the station she was in the supermarket with her son when she heard four gunshots.

"We were hiding down, kind of in the self-checkout area, and I just knew like this is a problem, and I started counting in between shots and then I just grabbed Nicholas, I said, 'Move now.'"

President Joe Biden has been briefed about the shooting, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday night.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has also been briefed, a Department of Justice official told ABC News.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis tweeted out a statement Monday afternoon reacting to the shooting.

"Like my fellow Coloradans, I am closely watching unfolding events at King Soopers in Boulder," he wrote. "My prayers are with our fellow Coloradans in this time of sadness and grief as we learn more about the extent of the tragedy."

In another statement later Monday evening, Polis asked for residents to have patience as the investigation continues.

"Right now, the biggest priority is to let local law enforcement and the City of Boulder to do their work to ensure the safety of those involved," he said.

Kroger, the parent company of King Soopers, released a statement expressing their condolences and sympathies to their associates and customers and thanking the "first responders who so bravely responded to this tragic situation." They also said they are cooperating with investigators.

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the union that represents the store workers, said on Twitter Monday night that they are also monitoring the situation.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Paulina Villegas, Andrea Salcedo and Amanda Miller of The Washington Post wrote:BOULDER, Colo. — Ten people were killed at a King Soopers grocery store on Monday, including a Boulder police officer, after a shooter opened fire on customers and responding officers.

Law enforcement officials said the suspect, who carried out the attack with a rifle, was in custody, but they offered scarce details about the deadly shooting, including any information about a possible motive.

Boulder Police Commander Kerry Yamaguchi said in a brief news conference that the suspect was being treated for an injury. Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said officials were still working to notify family members of the victims.

Dozens of emergency vehicles lined the streets around the store Monday afternoon during a massive response to what police said was an “active shooter" situation at the store. Witnesses described a chaotic scene, with customers rushing to exits at the front and back of the supermarket after shots were fired. One witness told local media that the shooter did not say anything before opening fire.

Ryan Borowski, 37, had gone to King Soopers to grab a bag of chips and a soda. Borowski, a massage therapist who does not frequent the store often, said he had thought about getting a pint of ice cream but changed his mind because the aisle was too far away.

At about 2:30 p.m., just as Borowski was walking up to the checkout area, he heard a loud bang.

“My first hope was that it was an employee who dropped something,” he said. Then came the second bang. “By the third bang I was running. It was bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! I was thinking around eight.”

He added: “I saw a woman shorter than myself with a terrified look on her face running toward me, and at this point I turned, and people were saying things like: ‘Run, run! Go, run!’ Everybody was running, and everybody was scrambling.”

Borowski and a group of customers and employees ran toward the back of the store in a line, placing their hands on top of one another’s backs so they wouldn’t leave anyone behind, he said. “Don’t stop! Keep going!” he recounted telling people.

The group exited through the loading dock in the back of the store, he said, then hid under a semi-truck for a moment before running up a hill to the parking lot of a nearby Whole Foods.

Video from a witness who was live-streaming on YouTube from the King Soopers parking lot showed at least two people injured and motionless on the ground outside and a third just inside the front doors.

“There are gunshots inside the store! People ran out of the back door! The active shooter is still in there!” the witness shouted.

The live video showed heavily armed officers surrounding the building — with its front windows broken — and police could be heard trying to communicate with the attacker via bullhorn. At one point, officers were lifted onto the roof in a cherry picker.

Around 3:30 p.m. local time, a man in handcuffs who was bleeding down his leg was guided away from the building by police. Officials did not confirm whether the bleeding man was the suspect.

As details of the attack emerged slowly Monday evening, government officials shared their sorrow and condolences.

“My heart is breaking as we watch this unspeakable event unfold in our Boulder community,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said in a written statement. “We are making every public safety resource available to assist the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department as they work to secure the store.”

Polis had said earlier that he was “closely watching unfolding events.”

Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colorado) sent his prayers to the Boulder community, first responders and law enforcement who responded to the “terrible incident,” he wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, those who experienced and survived the attack offered details of the horrific scene. A witness who spoke to the Denver Post said the gunman did not say anything — “he just came in and started shooting.”

Andy Arellano, 35, was working in the King Soopers meat department when he started to hear shots like “big hammers on a metal table,” said the Boulder resident.

“At the first, it was just like boom, boom, boom — it was three. Then suddenly boom, boom, boom, boom, and that’s when all the people started running.”

Employees and customers ran out of the back of the store, Arellano said. He never saw the shooter.

“I could hear the shots getting closer and closer,” he said. “The shots were so close that I started hearing that ringing bell with the gunshots."

While waiting outside the police barrier across the street from the crime scene, he tried to contact co-workers. “I’m trying to, like, call my friends to see if they’re okay, and there’s no word of them.”

A man named Steven told 9News that his grandchildren were inside the store during the shooting. He said they hid in a closet as the incident unfolded and as police dropped into the store through the roof.

Daniel Douglas was in the supermarket picking up lunch and flowers for his girlfriend when the gunshots began.

“Nobody knew what was going on, so we started screaming, ‘Hit the ground,’” he told Fox 31 Denver.

At some point, he said, the shooter moved to the front of the store, while Douglas and other customers rushed to the back of the building, where he said many others were hiding and trying to escape. A co-worker who was with him at the moment had to kick the emergency-exit door open so people could get out, he said.

“A lot of people were petrified. A lot of people were crying,” he said.

Another man, who said he was on his way to pick up coffee at the store, walked away from the incident unharmed. He told Fox 31 he was “terrified” and “in shock” when he realized what has happening.

He said he called his mother to let her know he was all right, then “it all kind of sunk in and I started panicking.”

“The fact that it’s happening all over America,” he added, “seeing it on the news, like, something I’ve grown up with, like people my age and my generation — we’re used to this, and its just never something that I think would happen in my town.”

There have been as many as nine school shootings in the area since the Columbine massacre in 1999, which left 12 students and a teacher dead. Four other major shootings have occurred within 20 miles of the suburban Columbine High School, including a 2012 shooting at a movie theater in Aurora that left 12 dead.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

ABC News Staff wrote:Ten people, including a police officer, were killed in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday afternoon when a gunman opened fire at a King Soopers grocery store, where residents had gathered to shop and receive COVID-19 vaccines.

The victims range in age from 20 to 65, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said.

The slain officer, 51-year-old Eric Talley, was the first member of law enforcement to arrive at the scene, Herold said.

The other victims were identified as: Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.

The shooting was reported at about 2:40 p.m. local time, police said. Officers arrived within minutes, entering the store and engaging with the suspect, who was shot in the exchange of gunfire, according to police.

The suspect, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, of Arvada, Colorado, suffered a leg wound and was taken into custody at 3:28 p.m. Monday, the chief said.

The suspect has been charged with 10 counts of murder, Herold said. He will be taken to the Boulder County Jail once he is released from the hospital, which is expected on Tuesday, Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty said.

The chief said she lives several blocks from the store.

"I feel numb. And it's heartbreaking," she said at a Tuesday news conference.

Talley had been a member of the Boulder Police Department since 2010.

He "loved this community," the police chief said. "He's everything that policing deserves and needs."

"He took his job as a police officer very seriously," Talley's father, Homer Talley, said in a statement to ABC News.

Officer Talley was a father of seven.

"He loved his kids and his family more than anything," Homer Talley said.

Talley's father said the late officer joined the police force when he was 40 years old and recently started training to be a drone operator so he could get a job to keep himself off of the front lines.

"He didn't want to put his family through something like this," Homer Talley said.

Victim Rikki Olds, 25, was a "strong, independent" young woman who worked at the grocery store, her uncle, Robert Olds, told ABC News.

Her boyfriend went to the store parking lot in hopes of finding her alive, he said.

"She was so loved and she will be so missed," Robert Olds said. "We are heartbroken and saddened and devastated."

President Joe Biden urged lawmakers on Tuesday to take action by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

"I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps," he said.

The Senate "should immediately pass the two House-passed bills that close loopholes in the background check system," Biden said.

Biden has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House. Last week, the president ordered flags to fly at half-staff in honor of the Georgia spa shooting victims, and that order expired at sunset on Monday.

Former President Barack Obama said in a statement, "It is long past time for those with the power to fight this epidemic of gun violence to do so."

"We can overcome opposition by cowardly politicians and the pressure of a gun lobby that opposes any limit on the ability of anyone to assemble an arsenal," Obama said. "We can, and we must."

Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse said Tuesday's news conference, "We need to see a change because we have lost far too many lives."

As the shooting unfolded Monday afternoon, eyewitnesses shared videos from the parking lot on social media, showing officers ordering a suspect to come out of the King Soopers grocery store with his hands up and surrender. Eyewitness videos from inside the supermarket show shoppers and employees trying to flee or hide.

Andy Arellano, who works at the King Soopers store in Boulder, told ABC Denver affiliate KMGH that he was concerned for his colleagues and shoppers as gunshots rang out.

"We were like sitting ducks, you know, and that's one thing that I'm reliving it and looking at it in my head," Arellano said. "And that, that bothers me, I'm still shivering, I'm still shaking."

Andrew Hummel told KMGH that he was at another store in the same shopping center when he heard the shots, prompting him and others to run out.

Hummel said his roommate works at the store where the shooting took place and hid in a storage room with some customers, texting updates to Hummel and others.

"I think one of the biggest scary text[s] that he sent he just said, 'I love you guys, like thank you for everything, in case, like, things go bad,'" Hummel said. "That was a really hard text ... that's something that I would never want to hear from any of my friends, because I knew the seriousness of what was going on and I was horrified."

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement, "Tonight, the families of these victims, our fellow Coloradans, my neighbors, are hearing the devastating news that their loved one who simply woke up and went to work this morning, or who ran out to pick up eggs, won't be coming home."

"Today we saw the face of evil. I am grieving with my community and all Coloradans," he said.

The King Soopers supermarket chain and its parent company, Kroger, released a joint statement Monday evening, offering "thoughts, prayers and support to our associates, customers, and the first responders who so bravely responded to this tragic situation."

"We will continue to cooperate with local law enforcement and our store will remain closed during the police investigation," the statement added.

- ATLANTA, March 16, 2021 - Eight people, including six women of Asian descent, were shot dead in a string of attacks at day spas in and around Atlanta, and a man suspected of carrying out the shootings was arrested in southern Georgia.

- GREENVILLE, July 5, 2020 - Ten people were shot in a Greenville, South Carolina, nightclub in an outburst of suspected gang-related violence that killed two people and critically injured two others, police said.

- MILWAUKEE, Feb 26, 2020 - A gunman opened fire at the Molson Coors Beverage Co brewing complex in Milwaukee, killing five co-workers before he was found dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

- ILLINOIS, Feb. 15, 2019 - Gary Martin, 45, opened fire at an Illinois factory after receiving notice of termination from his job there, killing five workers and wounding five policemen before he was slain by police.

- EL PASO, Aug. 3, 2019 - A man fatally shot 22 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. A statement, believed to have been written by the suspect, called the attack "a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas." Authorities arrested the shooter.

- DAYTON, Aug. 4, 2019 - A gunman dressed in body armor opened fire in downtown Dayton, Ohio, killing nine people including his sister and wounding 27 others. Police killed the shooter.

- VIRGINIA BEACH, May 31, 2019 - A disgruntled public utility employee opened fire with a handgun on co-workers at a municipal building in Virginia, killing 12 people and wounding at least four before he was fatally shot by police.

- THOUSAND OAKS, Nov. 7, 2018 - A former Marine combat veteran killed 12 people in a bar in Thousand Oaks, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. He then killed himself.

- TREE OF LIFE, Oct. 27, 2018 - A gunman burst into the Tree of Life synagogue near Pittsburgh with a semi-automatic rifle and three handguns as he fired on congregants gathered for a Sabbath service, killing 11.

- SANTA FE, Texas, May 18, 2018 - A 17-year-old student dressed in a trench coat and armed with a shotgun and pistol opened fire at his high school outside Houston, killing nine students and a teacher, before surrendering to officers.

- PARKLAND, Feb. 14, 2018 - A former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, opened fire with an assault-style rifle, killing 17 students and educators.

- SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Nov. 5, 2017 - A man thrown out of the U.S. Air Force for beating his wife and child shot 26 people fatally at a rural Texas church where his in-laws worshipped before killing himself.

- LAS VEGAS, Oct. 1, 2017 - A gunman opened fire on a country music festival from a 32nd-floor hotel suite, killing 58 people and wounding 564 others before taking his own life.

- ORLANDO, June 12, 2016 - A gunman fatally shot 49 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub, before he was shot dead by police.

- SAN BERNARDINO, Dec. 2, 2015 - A husband and wife killed 14 people at a workplace holiday party in San Bernardino in Southern California before dying in a shootout with police.

- ROSEBURG, Oct 1, 2015 - A gunman stalked onto an Oregon college campus and opened fire, killing nine people and wounding seven before police shot him to death.

- CHARLESTON, June 17, 2015 - A White supremacist killed nine Black churchgoers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. He was sentenced to death.

- WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 16, 2013 - A former Navy reservist working as a government contractor killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard. He was shot dead by police.

- NEWTOWN, Dec. 14, 2012 - A heavily armed gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children from five- to 10-years old, in a rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

- AURORA, July 20, 2012 - A masked gunman killed 12 people and wounded 70 others at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado. He received multiple life sentences.

- FORT HOOD, Nov. 5, 2009 - An army major and psychiatrist opened fire at Fort Hood, a U.S. Army base in Texas, killing 13 people.