BOULDER, Colorado — Investigators searching for answers after
the mass shooting in Boulder this week still do not know why a gunman fatally
shot 10 people at a crowded grocery store, the police chief said.
اضافة اعلان
“We, too, want to know why,” the Boulder police chief, Maris
Herold, said at a news conference. “Why that King Soopers? Why Boulder? And
unfortunately, at this time, we still don’t have those answers.”
The semi-automatic weapon used in the shooting was legally
purchased six days earlier at a gun store in Arvada, Colorado, Herold said.
That weapon, a Ruger AR-556 pistol, is essentially a shortened version of an
AR-15-style rifle and is considered a handgun under Colorado law.
The 21-year-old suspect, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, was also found
with a 9 mm handgun, but authorities do not believe he fired it, the chief
said.
Officials pledged to chase every lead and said they were working
to determine whether there were any connections between the gunman and anyone
in the supermarket. But they acknowledged the possibility that the gunman’s
motives might never be known. It is not yet clear whether Alissa had ever been
to the grocery store — which is about 24km north of his family’s house in
Arvada — before the shooting, Herold said.
“Sometimes you just don’t figure these things out, but I’m
hoping we will,” she said.
Alissa is charged with 10 counts of murder and one count of
attempted murder and is being held in jail without bond. He has been moved to a
jail outside Boulder County because of “safety concerns and threats,” according
to Carrie Haverfield, a spokesperson for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.
At Alissa’s first court appearanceone of his lawyers suggested
that he had a “mental illness” but did not go into detail. Alissa, who was
wounded in the leg before being taken into custody after a shootout with the
police, appeared in court in a wheelchair.
Michael Dougherty, Boulder County district attorney, said that
he planned to file additional charges of attempted murder. He said the FBI and
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were looking into the
weapons that the gunman was found with at the scene “and other firearms in his
possession,” although he did not elaborate.
A manager of the gun shop where the AR-556 was purchased, John
Mark Eagleton of Eagles Nest Armory, said in a statement that Alissa had passed
a background check and the sale had been approved by the Colorado Bureau of
Investigation.
“We are absolutely shocked by what happened, and our hearts are
broken for the victims and families that are left behind,” Eagleton said. “Ensuring
every sale that occurs at our shop is lawful has always been and will always
remain the highest priority for our business.”
Dougherty said the grocery store was still being analyzed by
investigators, a painstaking process that includes going through every shelf of
food and other items in search of bullets or other evidence.
In response to a question, he said that the FBI is still looking
at any possibility of connections to international terrorism.
“At this point, we don’t have any particular information to
share in that regard,” he said. “We will continue to look into it.”
Those inquiries are part of a wide-ranging examination of any
possible motive that still has produced no answers, he suggested.
“I think the victims’ families and the community are desperate
to know the motive,” he said. “Whether or not we’re able to determine it
remains to be seen.”
Among the victims were at least three King Soopers employees and
Officer Eric Talley, the Boulder police officer who was the first to respond to
the scene.
An officer who fired his gun at Alissa has been placed on
administrative leave, a standard move after a police shooting, authorities
said.
.jpg)
.jpg)
