10 killed in Colorado grocery store shooting

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin said the government can combat gun violence the same way they tackled the opioid crisis. 

"We can do this," Durbin said during his opening remarks during a hearing on gun violence Tuesday.

Durbin said when they announced holding this hearing on "Constitutional and Common Sense Steps to Reduce Gun Violence" last week Tuesday it was prior to the mass shooting in Georgia and as he was preparing his remarks on Monday, 10 people were killed in Boulder, Colorado.

"We can't keep up with it. I can't change them in my opening statement, to keep up with it. It just keeps coming at us," Durbin said.

"We are Senate leaders, what are we doing other than reflecting and praying?" Durbin said. 

Before showing a brief video of a montage of gun violence coverage on the news, Durbin said that an average 109 Americans lives are lost to gun violence – suicides, murders, accidental shootings, homicides – "the numbers are sobering ... We've seen too many desperate trips to the emergency room too many funerals too many families and communities have been scarred forever by gun violence. We've come to accept it as part of American life." 

Durbin said that while gun violence disproportionately affects people of color "nobody is immune." 

As the hearing on gun reform measures opened this morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the political red lines that have been a hallmark of the issue for decades reemerge.

In opening statements, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut accused Republicans of having no solutions on guns. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, pushed back, citing efforts he and Sen. Chuck Grassley have undertaken that are more incremental and blasted Democrats for pushing gun reform every time there is a shooting.

“We have had far too many tragedies in our country,” Cruz said. “I’ve been to too damn many of these. Every time there is a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater…”

“Democrats propose taking away guns from law abiding citizens,” Cruz said. “When you disarm law abiding citizens, you make them more likely to be victims. If you want to stop these murders go after the murders.”

Grassley, the top Republican on Judiciary, argued part of the problem is that the police are not funded well enough.

“We cannot reduce violence in our communities without a professional, well-trained and fully-funded police force,” Grassley said.

Today's hearing comes as President Biden faces growing pressure to act on gun reform after the latest mass shootings in Boulder, Colorado, and in the Atlanta area. 

In remarks this afternoon, President Biden urged the Senate to pass a pair of House-passed gun reforms, including a universal background checks measure and an assault weapons ban.

Ali Aliwi Alissa confirmed to CNN that the footage of a handcuffed man bleeding from his leg and being led away from the scene of the shooting in Boulder, Colorado, is his brother and shooting suspect, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa.  

There are two videos that show Alissa: one taken by a live streamer on the ground and another from CNN affiliate KMGH’s helicopter. 

In the videos, the man now identified as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is seen with his right leg covered in blood and is being led away from the scene in handcuffs, by two first responders.  

In a news conference on Tuesday morning, authorities said they believe he is the only person involved in the shooting and that there is no additional threat to the community. They would not confirm that the man seen being led out in handcuffs was the suspect, but Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold confirmed the suspect was wounded in the leg during “an exchange of gunfire.”

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Alissa is a resident of the Denver suburb of Arvada, Colorado, who has “lived most of his life in the United States.”

President Biden said he would do everything in his power to keep Americans safe following the latest mass shooting in Colorado and pushed the Senate to immediately pass two House-passed gun reforms, including a universal background checks measure and an assault weapons ban.

"I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future," he said in remarks from the White House.

He listed a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as strengthening the background check system by closing loopholes, as areas he would like to see Congress act on.

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President Biden offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the Boulder shooting and vowed to use all the resources at his disposal "to keep the American people safe."

"Ten lives have been lost, and more families have been shattered by gun violence in the state of Colorado. And Jill and I are devastated," Biden said in remarks from the White House.

Biden praised the heroism of slain Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, one of 10 people killed in yesterday's shooting.

The President said he's been briefed by the FBI and the attorney general on the shooting, and that the White House is working closely with local and state law enforcement officials on the investigation. Biden noted that at this moment, "a great deal remains unknown" about the shooting.

Biden “directed that all flags at the White House be flown at half staff” to honor the victims, according to a White House statement. 

Yesterday's shooting comes just days after eight were killed in a series of shootings in the Atlanta area. The President is facing growing pressure to act on guns in the wake of these latest mass shootings.

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Ten people, including a police officer, were killed Monday after a gunman opened fire in a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado.

CNN correspondent Dan Simon was live on the scene and answered viewers' questions about the investigation.

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The suspect in Monday's grocery store shooting in Colorado, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, has been booked into Boulder County Jail, according to the jail's records.

Alissa was booked today at 12:49 p.m. local time, according to the county site.

Officials previously said he was receiving treatment at a hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg.

President Biden has issued a proclamation for flags to be flown at half-staff to honor the victims of the Boulder shooting.

A statement just released by the White House says:

Biden also directed flags to be flown at half-staff for all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

Just last week, the President ordered the American flags at the White House and on other federal ground to be flown at half-staff as "a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence" in Atlanta.

Grocery workers — who already showed heroism throughout the Covid-19 pandemic — were heroes during the Colorado mass shooting, said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7. The union represents grocery store employees, including those in the King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, where 10 people died on Monday. 

“Everybody's really traumatized. There is a lot of shock,” she added. 

Rikki Olds, 25, has been identified as one of the victims killed in Monday’s shooting at the supermarket. She was a front-end manager at King Soopers, according to her uncle. Olds was a member of the union in another store but transferred over to the nonunion side of the Boulder store, according to Cordova. 

Olds was “very nice, very friendly, very caring,” Cordova said. “She was always happy, just a really great person.” 

Cordova said she believes there are several other employees who died during the shooting, but did not comment further as the investigation is ongoing.

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