In addition to a police officer who had responded to 911 calls, the authorities identified nine other victims, who ranged in age from 20 to 65.

The suspect in the murders of 10 people at a Boulder, Colo., grocery store — the second mass shooting to shake the country in less than a week — is a 21-year-old man from a nearby Denver suburb who used an AR-15 type of assault rifle, law enforcement officials said.
The police in Arvada, Colo., said they had two encounters in 2018 with the suspect, identified on Tuesday as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, of Arvada — one on a report of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and one of criminal mischief. It is not clear if he was convicted of a crime.
The suspect’s identity was known to the F.B.I. because he was linked to another individual under investigation by the bureau, according to law enforcement officials.
Among the victims of the massacre on Monday was Officer Eric Talley, 51, with the Boulder Police Department, who had responded to a “barrage” of 911 calls about the shooting, Chief Maris Herold said.
The authorities identified the nine additional victims 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.
Chief Herold said at a news conference that police officers had run into the King Soopers grocery store within minutes of the shooting and had shot at the suspect. No other officers were injured during the response, she said. She said Mr. Alissa was taken to a hospital for treatment of a leg injury, and would be taken to jail on Tuesday.
He was charged on Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder. Officials gave no indication of a motive.
A Facebook page that appeared to belong to the suspect, giving his name as Ahmad Al Issa, said he was born in Syria in 1999 and went to Arvada West High School, where he was a wrestler. Michael Dougherty, the Boulder County district attorney, said the suspect had “lived most of his life in the United States.”
The Facebook page listed wrestling and kickboxing as being among his interests, and many of the posts were about martial arts. One post, in 2019, said simply, “#NeedAGirlfriend.” It said he had studied computer engineering at Metropolitan State University of Denver, though it was not clear if he was a current student. The page was taken down within an hour of Mr. Alissa’s name being released by the authorities.
The shooting came just six days after another gunman’s deadly shooting spree at massage parlors in the Atlanta area.
“Flags had barely been raised back to full mast after the tragic shooting in Atlanta that claimed eight lives, and now a tragedy here, close to home, at a grocery store that could be any of our neighborhood grocery stores,” Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, said at the news conference.
He noted that he was “someone who has called this community my home for most of my whole life and who has shopped at that King Soopers in Table Mesa many times.”
A federal law enforcement official confirmed that the weapon used was some version of an AR-15 rifle, a type of weapon that has been used in many mass shootings.
Chief Herold said the coroner’s office had identified all of the victims and notified their families before 4 a.m. Tuesday.
Representative Joe Neguse of Colorado said mass shootings could not be the “new normal.”
“In this year of separation due to Covid, of loss and of loneliness, grocery stores like King Soopers have been one of our consistent gathering places, one of the few routine activities that we’ve continued to engage in as Coloradans and as Americans,” Mr. Neguse said. “It’s hard to describe what it means for this safe place to see a horrible tragedy like this unfold.”
A video streamed live from outside of the grocery store on Monday had appeared to show a suspect — handcuffed, shirtless and with his right leg appearing to be covered in blood — being taken from the building by officers.
Employees and shoppers inside the grocery store described a harrowing scene.
“I thought I was going to die,” said Alex Arellano, 35, who was working in the store’s meat department when he heard a series of gunshots and saw people running toward an exit.

The authorities in Boulder, Colo., on Tuesday identified the 10 victims of the grocery store shooting. They included a police officer, a young grocery store worker and a retiree who was at the King Soopers picking up groceries for an Instacart delivery.
Among the victims was Officer Eric Talley, 51, with the Boulder Police Department, who had responded to a “barrage” of 911 calls about the shooting. Authorities identified the nine other people who were killed 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.
Here is what we know about the victims so far.
‘Brought life to the family’

Rikki Olds, a 25-year-old who loved the outdoors, was a front-end manager at King Soopers, where she had worked for about seven or eight years, her uncle, Robert Olds, said in an interview.
Ms. Olds was an energetic, bubbly and “happy-go-lucky” young woman who “brought life to the family,” her uncle said. She had persevered, despite hardship, he said. She was the oldest of three siblings, and her mother had abandoned her when she was just seven years old — dropping her off at the doorstep of her grandparents, who raised her in Lafayette, Colo.
Mr. Olds described his niece as a strong and independent woman who enjoyed hiking and camping. She liked spending time with friends and family and often accompanied him and her cousins to their baseball games.
The whole family is in shock, particularly Ms. Olds’ grandmother, Mr. Olds said. “My mom was her mom,” he said. “My mom raised her.”
A veteran police officer

Eric Talley, an 11-year veteran of the Boulder Police Department, was described as “heroic” by Chief Maris Herold at a news conference at the scene of the shooting on Monday night.
“He was the first on the scene, and he was fatally shot,” Chief Herold said, holding back tears. “My heart goes out to the victims of this incident.”
“The world lost a great soul,” said Officer Talley’s father, Homer Talley. “He was a devoted father — seven kids. The youngest was 7 and the oldest was 20, and his family was the joy of his life.”
Officer Talley was born in Houston and raised in Albuquerque. He joined the police force as a second career when he was 40, quitting a job in cloud communications, his father said in an interview on Tuesday morning.
“He wanted to be a servant,” Mr. Talley said. “He wanted to serve people. And you know, all kids want to be a policeman, and in many ways, he was a big kid.”
A former magazine photo director
Lynn Murray, 62, a former photo director and mother of two, was at the grocery store on Monday filling an Instacart order, which she had enjoyed doing to help people since her retirement.
Ms. Murray was former photo director for several New York City magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Glamour, her husband said. The couple moved from New York in 2002, first to Stuart, Fla., then to Colorado, to raise their children.
No comments:
Post a Comment