USA: Ten dead after a rampage in the supermarket - policeman among the victims

Again in the US a supermarket becomes a crime scene, and people are shot dead again.

The incident in the US state of Colorado is the second major “shoot” in the US within a week.

Boulder - A rifleman killed ten people in the US state of Colorado.

The scene of the bloody act was a supermarket that is part of a shopping complex with several shops and cafes in the town of Boulder, northwest of Denver.

There is also a policeman among the dead.

Police chief Maris Herold said the killed colleague was one of the first officers at the scene and was shot.

One suspect has been taken into custody.

The authorities did not provide any information on the motive, with reference to the early stage of the investigation.

First, the police received reports of shots and a suspicious person with a patrol rifle, said Herold.

The police moved in with a massive contingent - the shop complex was surrounded, and heavily armed special forces were also on duty.

The security forces called the suspect to surrender over the loudspeaker.

US Attorney: "It's a tragedy and a nightmare"

Eyewitnesses reported multiple gunshots and motionless people on the floor of the supermarket and in the parking lot.

Video images showed a man with a bloodied leg and a bare torso being led away by the police.

It was initially unclear whether this was the suspect.

"It feels like the safest place in America, and I was almost killed for buying a soda and a bag of chips," a shocked eyewitness named Ryan Borowski told CNN.

He reported that there were several loud bangs in the supermarket.

With the third bang, people just ran.

District Attorney Michael Doherty said: "It's a tragedy and a nightmare."

Governor Jared Polis spoke of a "terrible event".

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said US President Joe Biden has been informed of the Colorado incident and will be kept informed.

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Police officers stand outside a supermarket in Colorado, USA, where ten people have been killed.

© Joe Mahoney

Gun violence in the USA - statistics show appalling results

In the United States, there are fatal incidents almost every day with weapons that are easy to buy there.

In its latest statistics from 2018, the CDC recorded a total of 39,740 gun fatalities in the US - about 109 deaths per day.

Last Tuesday, eight people were shot dead within a short period of time in three massage parlors in and around Atlanta, Georgia.

Six of them were of Asian background and seven of the victims were women.

The white suspect named sex addiction and the goal of eradicating the "temptation" through massage parlors as the motive for the brutal attacks.

The bloody act had fueled the debate in the United States about increasing discrimination and hostility towards Americans of Asian descent.

(dpa)

List of rubric lists: © Joe Mahoney