Boulder shooting: Two girls, aged 13 & 14, survived massacre by 'hiding upstairs in a coat closet for an hour'
TWO sisters aged 13 and 14 survived the Boulder supermarket shooting by hiding among coats in a closet, their grandad revealed.
Steven McCue said the girls are safe but "traumatized" after ten people were massacred by a marauding gunman with an AR-15-style rifle.
Steven said his granddaughters hid in silence for an hour until cops stormed through the roof and led them to safety.
He told Denver TV station KUSA his son-in-law was waiting to get a Covid vaccine when the gunman shot a woman in front of him.
He said: "He saw it and got the girls down. They ran and hid upstairs in a coat closet for an hour, in the coats.
"They were communicating with my daughter through his phone, texting.
"Half a dozen cops came in through the roof and got them and then told them 'Stay quiet'."
He added: “It was traumatizing for them. This is going to be pretty hard for them to live with I think.”
Other survivors told of panic in the aisles as the killer picked off victims one by one without saying a word.
“He just came in and started shooting,” one shopper told The Denver Post.
Another said the gunman “let off a couple of shots, then was silent, and then he let off a couple more. He wasn’t spraying.”
19Sarah Moonshadow, 42, said: “He shot right at us. I didn’t look. I just ran.”
She fled outside with her son Nick, 21, still clutching the strawberries they had just bought at the checkout.
Sarah told Denver's ABC7 she saw a victim lying on the ground outside and ran over to help.
She said through tears: “My son grabbed me by my coat and said, ‘No, we can’t help him. We gotta go.’
“I wanted to try to help that guy in the road and I couldn't because he was just too close and we had to get away.”
Another shopper, James Graham, said he could smell gunpowder as he ran from the store.
He said: “I probably heard 30 shots. It was just pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
“It was the most terrifying event I’ve ever been through.
"I mean, I’ve been through an active shooter drill, but… This happened so fast, and it was so loud… I’m still in shock over it."
Police arrived within minutes after the first 911 calls as shoppers ran for their lives.
Frantic radio traffic reveal the chaos as cops came under fire and saw one of their colleagues cut down by a bullet.
"Shooter is inside," one cop called out over the radio. "He just shot at us twice."
After a few seconds of quiet someone says over the radio: "Officer down inside the building."
Officer Eric Talley, 51, was one of ten killed in yesterday's massacre at King Soopers grocery store.
The other nine victims were: Denny Strong, 20, Neven Stoanisic, 23, Rikki Olds, 25, Tralona Bartkowiak, 49, Suzanne Fountain, 59, Teri Leiker, 51, Kevin Mahoney, 61, Lynn Murray, 62, and Jody Waters, 65.
Today police named the suspect as Ahmad Alyssa, 21, who has been charged with ten counts of murder.
He is alleged to have used an AR-15-style rifle in the rampage – America's second mass shooting in a week.
Alyssa's brother Ali, 34, described him as paranoid and “very anti-social," telling the Daily Beast he believes his sibling is mentally ill.
Last night Boulder cops lined up to salute their slain colleague Officer Talley, a dad of seven who joined the force in 2010.
Police Chief Maris Herold choked back tears as she confirmed his death at an emotion news conference.
She said: "Police officers' actions were nothing short of heroic.
"My heart goes out to the victims of this incident. I'm grateful to the police officers who responded and I am so sorry for the loss of Officer Talley."
District Attorney Michael Dougherty said: "This is a tragedy and a nightmare for Boulder County.
"These were people going about their day, doing their shopping.
"I promise the victims and the people of the state of Colorado that we will secure justice."
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