STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The first thing to know and remember about a mass shooting in Colorado is that it's early and not all the facts are in.
NOEL KING, HOST:
That's right. The story can change, as we've learned from too many other mass shootings. What we do know for certain is that a gunman opened fire at a supermarket. He killed 10 people before police took him into custody. The first name we've learned of a victim was a police officer who responded, 51-year-old Eric Talley.
INSKEEP: Colorado Public Radio's photojournalist, Hart Van Denburg, was on the scene of the shooting yesterday and is on the line. Good morning to you.
HART VAN DENBURG, BYLINE: Morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What did you see when you arrived?
VAN DENBURG: Steve, when I arrived, I saw dozens and dozens of police vehicles, SWAT vehicles, ambulances, buses, helicopters in the sky, drones in the sky, and the shopping center, which is in a residential area, completely surrounded by authorities and no traffic being allowed in or out of that part of the city.
INSKEEP: And this was the period when people who'd been trapped in the supermarket were being escorted out or escorted away. Is this right?
VAN DENBURG: Yeah, that's right. The person who had been led away earlier was gone. But as I got there, they were starting to lead people out of and across the parking lot with guards, obviously, two buses that then took them to a staging area over on the University of Colorado campus.
INSKEEP: And, of course, these were people who were shopping when this incident unfolded. Can you describe what is known, the narrative, from the beginning?
VAN DENBURG: What we know right now is that at some point yesterday afternoon, at around about 2:30, a gunman entered the parking lot and and walked into the store and started shooting. Eyewitnesses say some people in the store ran out the back through the loading docks, others ducked for cover or hid. And at some point, police officers arrived, including Officer Talley, and a siege began. And by the time I got there and a lot of other news personnel got there, there was still a huge police presence and the entire area was cordoned off.
INSKEEP: Ultimately, I guess, the suspect is captured. There are images of him - is this correct? - apparently bleeding as he's being led away.
VAN DENBURG: Yeah. The pictures show a man without a shirt just wearing a pair of shorts, bearded and evidently bleeding from a leg. Yeah, that's right.
INSKEEP: Can you talk us through some of the unknowns at this point?
VAN DENBURG: Well, the biggest unknown right now to the public is who the other nine - the nine victims are. Police have said they will only release those names once they've contacted next of kin. And we also don't know the motive. The Boulder County district attorney has said the investigation has started and expects it to take a number of days before more is known about that.
INSKEEP: Hart, I want to ask you one other question. And it's just what it's like to be in the state where you are right now. We're at this point in the country where there feels like - whatever the statistics show - feels like a constant drumbeat of mass shootings. It had been interrupted for a while by the pandemic. And now we've had a couple very quickly upon one another. What does it feel like as you move about and do your job in the last 24 hours?
VAN DENBURG: Well, one of the things that you hear people saying or you overheard people saying at the scene was they couldn't believe that this was happening again, that this was not what they expected, not what they expected getting back to normal after the pandemic to look like, especially in this state with its history of previous mass shootings.
INSKEEP: Getting back to normal. We'll remember that phrase. Hart, thank you very much.
VAN DENBURG: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: That's Hart Van Denburg of Colorado Public Radio.
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INSKEEP: Just 24 hours ago, we were telling you the U.S. test results of a new COVID vaccine.
KING: Astrazeneca reported positive outcomes for thousands of people who had taken it. This morning, though, we have more information. Just after midnight, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases sent out a statement about the vaccine. It said that a committee looking at the data was concerned about how the company was describing the results.
INSKEEP: Concerned about what exactly? This is another developing story where the best thing we can do is remind you of how much we don't know. But NPR science correspondent Joe Palca is here to talk us