Who is Sarah Moonshadow? Boulder shooting survivor breaks down for not 'helping anybody' as bullets flew around
Witnesses at a Colorado supermarket have described their terror as they fled for their lives when a gunman opened fire at shoppers and staff. 42-year-old Sarah Moonshadow, a resident of Boulder, was at the store with her son Nicholas on Monday. Speaking to Reuters, she recounted the pandemonium as bullets flew across the supermarket.
“We were at the checkout, and shots just started going off,” Moonshadow told Reuters. “And I said, ‘Nicholas get down.’ And Nicholas ducked. And we just started listening and there, just repetitive shots ... and I just said, ‘Nicholas, run.’”
RELATED ARTICLES
The customer recalled how she tried to help a victim she saw lying on the pavement just outside the store. However, her son pulled her away from the scene, telling her "We have to go." Moonshadow broke down in tears and said, "I couldn't help anybody."
Officers responded to the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder just before 3 pm local time on Monday after reports of an "active shooter" situation. However, the gunman shot and killed 10 people, including Eric Talley, the first police officer who arrived on the scene. A suspect has been taken into custody, although his identity was not released at the time of writing.
The mass shooting came just days after another gunman killed eight people, including six Asian women, at three day spas around Atlanta last Tuesday, the Guardian reported.
“I saw terrified faces running towards me and that’s when I turned and ran the other direction," customer Ryan Borowski, who was inside the store when the shooting began, told CNN. According to him, staff was helping customers get out from the back of the store, but some people froze at the scene. “We ran and I don’t know why other people didn’t and I am sorry that they froze and I just wish that this didn’t happen – I wish I had an answer for why it did,” he added.
35-year-old Alex Arellano was reportedly working in the meat department at King Soopers when gunshots rang out and he saw customers running towards the exit. “I thought I was going to die,” he told the New York Times. “I’m thinking of my parents, and I was freaking out.” Arellano hid with two other men before making their way out through a rear exit, per the newspaper.
Footage shared by resident Dean Schiller reportedly showed three people who appeared to be wounded as gunfire continued. “The entire building is surrounded, you need to surrender," the police was heard telling the gunman.
Meanwhile, another witness told CNN affiliate KCNC how his family had been waiting at the King Soopers pharmacy for a COVID-19 vaccination when the gunman entered and shot someone in front of their eyes. They immediately hid in a closet and remained there for an hour before police rescued them through the roof.
“They were texting, hiding in the coat closet. Turned their phone off and were going ‘we’re hiding, we’re okay’ you know, ‘don’t call’ you know the phone would ring and give away their position,” he said.
It's worth noting that Colorado has witnessed some of the most devastating mass shootings in modern history. In 2012, a young gunman stormed a movie theater during a midnight screening opened fire, killing 12 and wounding 70. In 1999, two students went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colorado, killing 12 classmates and a teacher before turning the gun on themselves.