One suspect is in custody, Boulder Police Chief Marys Harold said, but officials have not shared any information about his identity, the type of weapon used or any possible motive.
Such a complex investigation would take at least five days to complete, he said.
While Boulder police are investigating Monday’s massacre, witnesses shared their experience with the panic and panic inside the store.
Steven McHugh said his son-in-law and two granddaughters were there when the gunman attacked.
“The intensity, the horror lasts for the rest of his life,” he said.
RJ Borowski told CNN he was shopping at the store when he heard the first shots, and by number three, everyone was running. He said he could not believe what had happened in his city.
“Boulder feels like a bubble, and that bubble burst,” Borowski said. “This seems like a safe place in America, and I almost hit to get a bag of soda and chips.”
He added: “It doesn’t look like it’s safe anywhere now.”
According to Harold, the slain officer of the slain Eric Tally, 1, was the first to respond to the scene. Tally joined the Boulder police force in 2010, he said.
“By all accounts, he was one of the best officers in the Boulder Police Department and his life was cut short,” said Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dugarty.
Officials did not reveal the identities of any of the other victims, saying they needed to inform family members first.
What officials say happened
Boulder police tweeted at about 2:49 pm (4:49 pm ET) that there was an active shooter at King Sopers on a table mesa.
In scanner traffic, officers made radio that they were in a gun battle. They continued to report that they were being fired from several rounds at at least 3:21 a.m. local time.
Ambulances and multiple law enforcement agencies arrived at the store, which is part of a large shopping center with a two-story strip mall at the side door.
“He is armed with a rifle, our officers fired and fired – we don’t know where he is in the store,” an official said, according to an audio transcript.
A senior law enforcement source told CNN that the weapon used in the shooting was an AR-15-style rifle.
At one point police were also seen moving on the roof. The cause of the roof movement was unclear, but a witness speaking to CNN-affiliated KCNC said his relatives in the store were thrown out of the roof.
“They hid, ran upstairs, had been hiding in the coat closet for the last hour,” the man said. “Half a dozen policemen came in from the roof and found them and then said, ‘You keep quiet.’
As soon as the events became public, a shirtless man was picked up from the supermarket in a KMGH helicopter. The man was found to have blood on his hands and right leg and two officers took him away as his hands cuffed behind him. The man was taken to an ambulance.
It was not immediately clear if he was involved in the shooting.
Call for action against gun violence
U.S. There have been at least six mass shootings so far this year in which four or more people have been killed.
In the wake of three spa shootings in Atlanta, the latest attack called for action and an expression of fear.
The Colorado tragedy, especially seemingly personal, Gifford said, how the shooting outside the Tucson grocery store survived, devastated his community.
Colorado Senator Michael Bennett also called for national gun violence dialogue and non-partisan action.
He said there is a long way to go before Congress can take meaningful steps to keep deadly weapons in the wrong hands.
King Soper is owned by Kroger Company, which said the store would remain closed during a police investigation.
CNN’s Steve Elmasi, Paul P. Murphy, Melissa Gray, Keith Allen, Kelsey Smith, Dina Hackney, Diane Gallagher and JS Satto contributed to this report.
.
