- Ten people, including a police officer, were killed in a mass shooting Monday afternoon at the King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. Police have a suspect in custody. [The Associated Press / Patty Nieberg and Thomas Piepert]
- Much of the shooting was live-streamed by witnesses. As customers were shopping around 2:30 pm local time, shots rang out. Some customers ran through the back of the store and escaped, while others hid in closets. [The Denver Post / Joe Rubino, Noelle Phillips, Elizabeth Hernandez, Shelly Bradbury, and Erica Hunzinger]
- Police said the suspect used an AR-15, an automatic rifle that has been used to devastating effect in several American mass shootings. Other than police officer Eric Talley, none of the victims’ names have been released yet. [BBC News]
- The Boulder shooting comes in the wake of a mass shooting in Atlanta last week. In 2021, there have already been seven mass killings after numbers had been down in 2020 due to quarantine and stay-at-home orders. [USA Today / Dennis Wagner and John Bacon]
- The broader murder rate, however, rose sharply last year. Preliminary data from the FBI released last week shows a 25 percent increase from 2019. [Jeff Asher / New York Times]
- Gun control groups denounced the shooting as yet another senseless, tragic act. Groups such as Colorado Moms Demand Action called on lawmakers to strengthen gun laws. [CBS News / Brian Dakss]
- Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO), who represents Boulder, called on President Joe Biden to appoint a national director of gun violence prevention. The House recently passed two gun control bills that would expand background checks, which now face long odds in the Senate. [Colorado Politics / Ernest Luning]
- Just 10 days before the shooting, a 2018 Boulder ordinance that placed a ban on assault weapons was blocked by a state district court. [The Washington Post / Teo Armus]
- A Denver Post analysis from 2019 found that Colorado has experienced more mass shootings per capita than all but four other states, underscoring fears from state legislators about collective mass trauma. Cities like Columbine and Aurora have become synonymous with the tragic mass shootings that have occurred there. [The Denver Post / Alex Burness]
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