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Breaking News: Updates On Colorado Supermarket Shooting; Second U.S. Mass Shooting In Less Than A Week; 10 Killed In Supermarket Shooting In Boulder, Colorado; Congress Meets This Week On Background Checks For Firearms; Ten Killed in Colorado Supermarket Shooting; Israelis Back at the Polls; U.S. & Allies Hit China with Sanctions over Uyghurs; E.U. and U.S. Impose More Sanctions on Coup Leaders; Historic Life-Threatening Rains Inundate New South Wales. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 23, 2021 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[01:00:00]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. John Vause live with breaking news from the CNN Center.

It is just on 1:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 11:00 p.m. in Boulder, Colorado, the scene of a second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than a week.

And that where we begin this hour with late word from law enforcement that at least 10 people including a police officer have been killed at a grocery store by what appears to be a lone gunman armed with an AR- 15 style weapon.

By some accounts, the shooter precise, deliberate, silent. He never said a word during his killing spree. Just one person was treated for injuries and, according to police, that was the gunman himself. Which suggests everyone he shot, he killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIS HEROLD, BOULDER COLORADO POLICE CHIEF: We know of 10 fatalities at the scene including one of our Boulder P.D. officers by the name of Eric Talley who's been on the Boulder Police Department since 2010.

He served in numerous roles supporting the Boulder Police Department and the community of Boulder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Lucy Kafanov is live this hour in Boulder, Colorado.

So, Lucy, just tell us what's the very latest and when will we find out more about the victims here?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We expect another press conference tomorrow morning, so we're hoping to get more information on both the suspect, the shooter, and the victims here. But for, now all we know is that 10 people tragically lost their lives

in yet another mass shooting here in America.

That officer that you referenced -- that was the Boulder police chief speaking -- about 51-year old Eric Talley. He was one of the first officers to respond to the scene here in Boulder.

The supermarket, the King Soopers supermarket is down behind me, it's part of a large shopping area.

And so we know that about 2:30 p.m. local time when people are out shopping, taking care of business -- there is a yoga studio, a tattoo parlor nearby, police said they started getting those frantic 9-1-1 calls about an active shooter in the area.

They said at least in one of the calls someone described someone with a patrol rifle though we have since learned from sources, as you point out, that it was an AR-15 style weapon that the suspect used.

Officers responded to the scene. There were several local police officers who responded, several different agencies as well. In fact, authorities told us that had the FBI not responded, had the ATF not responded and other Denver Metro agencies, we could have seen a higher death toll today if they had not responded.

Now that Officer, Eric Talley, lost his life. Ten people in total lost their lives. There was no one injured except for the suspect who's in custody.

We understand that he was taken to the hospital and we understand that this investigation is just beginning. And in fact, the Boulder police chief said that this is a complex investigation that is going to take no less than five days to complete, it might take even longer.

We know from footage that people were seen taken out of that supermarket. Witnesses described hearing those shots.

We saw some footage that showed lifeless bodies in the parking lot, at least two bodies outside which indicates that perhaps this confrontation or whatever it is that happened began outside and then moved into that supermarket (inaudible).

Some of the witnesses described -- one man in fact told CNN he was at a checkout counter, he was buying a bag of potato chips and a soda and then texted his wife at about 2:30 p.m. and then moments later started hearing this gunfire. He ran towards the back of the store with a bunch of other customers.

The employees there were surprised to see them, and then they started shutting gunman. gunman. And so the employees then helped escort some of those customers through the back of the store where they were able to luckily escape with their lives. But again, 10 other people did not today.

The district attorney called this a terrible and horrific mass shooting. He said this is going to be a painstaking investigation. They're going to be exploring all leads here to use the justice to the full extent of the law, to figure out what happened and to prosecute this person who is in custody.

We also heard from the U.S. attorney for the District of Colorado who said the full weight of the federal law enforcement will also be supporting those local efforts.

But again, another traumatic day here in America.

We're still just beginning to piece together what happened. We don't have any information about the motive or what might have been behind the shooting.

[01:05:00]

All we know is that a quiet Monday afternoon was tragically interrupted when these 10 people including a Boulder police officer lost (ph) their lives. John.

VAUSE: Lucy, thank you. We appreciate the update there from Boulder, Colorado.

Well, authorities have so far released very few details about the shooting.

While there is still much we do not know about how this day unfolded, we know a lot from witnesses about what happened inside that grocery store, when the shots first rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW HUMMEL, WITNESS INSIDE GROCERY STORE: At first, I heard like a loud bang so I kind of thought like a shelf fell over or something like that.

But then immediately when I heard multiple gunshots, I knew that it was something more than that. And so I just made sure I got out of there safely. It was really a truly horrifying experience.

NEVEN AND QINLYN SLOAN, WITNESSES INSIDE GROCERY STORE: I just heard a big bang. And I was like that's kind of weird, I didn't know if it was a gunshot or whatever. But I was just -- it was like probably three seconds before I heard another. It was like bang, bang, bang and I immediately sprinted over to her.

And I said hey, we've got to get out and I pushed open the emergency door and I told her to run. And I ended up leaving her which she really hated but I went back and just was by the exit just making sure that people were getting out because I remember seeing an older woman that was there and I was hey, come here -- I didn't know if she heard the gunfire. But she was like in shock, she was just in crazy shock.

RYAN BOROWSKI, WITNESS INSIDE GROCERY STORE: I heard one loud bang. I thought somebody just dropped something, an employee or something and then another. And then by the third one, everybody was running. We ran to the back of the store and found our way into the employee

back of house. Some people were kind of running through the pantry, employees were telling people this is the exit.

We went out the cargo bay and jumped underneath the loading truck that was there and ran up the back of the hill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us now, former FBI special agent, Asha Rangappa in Hamden, Connecticut. Also, CNN's law enforcement analyst, Peter Licata, all the way from Mogadishu in Somalia.

So thank you both for being with us. Asha, first to you. I guess the big question right now is why, what was the motive? The alleged shooter is alive in custody, that would seem to be where that part of the investigation begins.

So once he's treated for whatever injuries he may have, pick it up from there. What happens next?

ASHA RANGAPPA CNN LEGAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, law enforcement will obviously want to interview him. He has a choice whether to speak with law enforcement but that will be the first place that they're going to get information.

But I think we learned from last week's shooting, the investigation doesn't stop with just what the suspect says was his motive.

I think that law enforcement is going to look into, for example, his social media, his contacts, his friends, his family. Look at what was going on in his life and what were the events that led up to that.

I think for this investigation, they're also going to be interested in learning about the firearm, how he got it? What was his background, did he get it legally? Did he buy it in another state, did he travel? All of that will be pertinent to this investigation.

And, in particular, in determining what kinds of charges might be brought by state or federal authorities.

VAUSE: Peter, witnesses have described a shooter who was very methodical, one or two shots at a time. He maintained total silence.

He did have his AR-15, seemed to know how to use it -- or an AR-15 style weapon. What does that suggest you?

PETER LICATA, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, John, we've seen this before, haven't we? A methodical mass shooter. So it just means that it's a person that's determined, it's deliberate, that thought this out. Completely thought this out on where they were going to go and how they were going to begin and use their plan of attack.

So it just shows complete, deliberately planning, maybe some practice as well at a firing range prior or previous to this horrific act. It shows the intent and the deliberacy (ph) of this individual. VAUSE: So Peter, you'd say that if there's any kind of surveillance

video like cameras or whatever there would be images perhaps of the shooter there before today?

LICATA: Absolutely. It's potential -- there's a potential there that if they pulled surveillance video from that morning or a couple of days ago that you would see his vehicle or him there previously.

VAUSE: Asha, talk about the scene here, it was -- and the timing as well. It was an afternoon, a suburban grocery store busy with customers stockpiling ahead of an unexpected snowstorm this evening.

Being a soft target, is there anything other than that which makes this stand out?

RANGAPPA: I think one question that we're going to have is was he a lone actor? I think in these kinds of incidents, they usually are. And that makes it a little bit harder to really delve into the motives and why he was doing this.

[01:10:00]

RANGAPPA: You typically with a lone actor don't have signals ahead of time although they might have been planning this, they're typically doing this on their own.

But it's so early right now to say what exactly was driving this. But I think that they're going to want to look at whether he was acting alone or whether there was other -- some kind of signal beforehand.

VAUSE: And, Asha, once they get that motive, once we work out exactly what was driving it then everything else seems to fit into place in many ways, doesn't it?

RANGAPPA: I think so. It's hard right now because we're looking at this right on the heels of what happened last week.

And last week, we had a target that was quite specific. And in terms of what the suspect stated was his motive, there was some overlap there in terms of this idea of sexual addiction and then these spas that he was targeting.

This kind of target, as you mentioned, is a soft target that has a lot of different people coming in. And I think it's too early to say was there some kind of personal connection, was there something that happened actually previous to this in his personal life that triggered this that then resulted in this?

But this doesn't seem to have the same kind of specificity in the way that last week's did. And we have that comparison because, unfortunately in the United States, we have these things happening at kind of a fast clip every year that it's hard not to compare them.

VAUSE: And, Peter, just to you finally. As we start to gather again in big numbers in public places, is there a need for extra vigilance here given the unknown impact on mental health many people have gone through because the pandemic, the lockdowns and long periods of isolation?

LICATA: Unfortunately, you're correct. It's the age we live in and it's been away for a while. So people always have to be aware.

It just goes back to that -- it's the NYPD of New York City Port Authority motto and it has to do with terrorism so I'm not trying to mix the two. But it's "If you see something, say something."

If you think you have a friend or a family member that is suffering through some mental anguish and is talking about doing some horrific act -- even if it seems offhanded or jokingly or oh don't worry about it, I didn't mean that.

That needs to be looked into and should not be dismissed, not in this day and age. This is just coming -- it's just too commonplace. As Ashley (ph) said, this is now two in just a matter of days, really.

And this, unfortunately, probably won't be the last this year. I hate to say that.

VAUSE: Asha, do you think we'll see some kind of increase in violent acts as a result of people in isolation and lockdown for such a long period of time?

RANGAPPA: I can't speculate on that. Unfortunately, I think as Peter just said this is just sort of a pattern in the United States whether or not we're in lockdown.

If you look at the last two decades, we've had an inordinate number of these kinds of incidents. And so I think it'll take time for the data to show whether there was a spike, for example, because of COVID.

But I think unfortunately this is one of our -- this is our albatross to deal with in the United States and we have to find a way to handle it, COVID or not.

VAUSE: Well, they've been saying that for a very long time. But yes, it has to be dealt with somehow.

Asha, thank you. Also, Peter, thank you very much for being with us all the way there in Somalia. Thank you.

LICATA: My pleasure, John. Thank you.

VAUSE: Take care. We'll have a lot more on the shooting in boulder including the chilling account from the man who had family members inside the supermarket.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: I got the call from my daughter -- my grandchildren and my son-in-law walked in the pharmacy for him to get a COVID-19 shot. And the shooter came in, shot the woman in front of them. They hid, ran upstairs. Were hiding in a coat closet for the last hour. And trying to stay in contact with my daughter. They're OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Just one of the terrifying stories which have emerged from the mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

At least 10 people have been killed including a police officer, Eric Talley, who was the first to respond to reports of shots fired. Other law enforcement officers on scene paying their respects.

A suspect is in custody and the police say the community is now safe. And officials are working to identify all of the victims.

Soon after the shooting, CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with a man who was inside the store when the shooting began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN BOROWSKI, WITNESS TO BOULDER SHOOTING: A loud bang. Thought something dropped, some employee dropped something. Second loud bang then third then we were all running. We knew by the third to run or at least everybody near me did.

I was luckily walking away from the sound of the bullets when they started. And we just all ran to the back of the store and out the back door and employees showed us the way and we told employees what was going on. So everybody helped each other and we just ran to safety as quickly as we could.

Boulder feels like a bubble. And the bubble bursts and that's heartbreaking, to think that people died in this today.

We just -- it doesn't feel like there's anywhere safe anymore sometimes. And this feels like the safest stop in America and I just nearly got killed for getting a soda and bag of chips.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:20:00]

VAUSE: Until last week in Atlanta when eight people were shot dead, the U.S. had not seen a mass shooting in a public place for about a year.

But that doesn't mean the gun violence has gone away, it just went out of sight.

Joining me now is Matt Littman, executive director of the Gun Reform 97 Percent. Matt, thank you for being with us.

MATHEW LITTMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 97PERCENT GUN REFORM: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: The big picture here. There seems to be this perception that during the pandemic there was almost a lull in mass shootings. But the reality is gun violence kind of increased last year, I think. it's just that where it took place; it went indoors, it went away from those public areas because we couldn't gather.

So the issue of gun violence and the death rate here in this country, it is still the same. It hasn't gone anywhere.

LITTMAN: So, actually, John, in 2020 the rate went up. So last year, 2020, there were more homicides, more killings with a gun than in any previous year. Way over 40,000, about 42,500. And that was a record high.

And you're right, people weren't gathering. At the same time, though, we did have more mass shootings than we've had in several years, mass shootings meaning four people or more being shot.

You didn't have -- what you're saying is we didn't have those big events like we're seeing right now, absolutely true. But we had more deaths with a gun last year than in any previous year.

So the numbers did not go down even though we weren't able to gather together, the numbers actually went up. Important to remember for your audience, 23,000 of those deaths are by suicide, another 19,000 or so are homicides.

VAUSE: The new Administration came in with the global pandemic, the economic collapse, a full list to do. Gun reform wasn't high up there, it was there but it wasn't really one of the big pressing issues. Does that now change in any way?

LITTMAN: Well, it's interesting you say that. So the Biden Administration has started to work on guns, they are very involved in this issue.

And tomorrow, as matter of fact -- or today in most of the world, John, where you are even -- there is a hearing in the Senate that was coincidentally set a couple of weeks tomorrow on -- today on gun issues which very rarely occurs in the United States Congress.

But there's a Democratic Senate now so there's a hearing tomorrow and there's legislation that's already passed the House and is waiting for a vote in the Senate on universal background checks.

So I think that the Biden Administration has prioritized this issue. I've met with them on this issue, other folks have met with them on this issue. And Congress has moved part of it, not all of it. Which is what we need.

VAUSE: According to law enforcement, the shooter was armed with an AR-15 style weapon. And that is the firearm of choice, it seems, for almost every mass shooter.

If AR-15s were not available -- like the assault weapons ban, anybody -- there would still be shootings but would they be this bad?

LITTMAN: So it's a great question, John. But it's not correct to say that most mass shootings occur with an assault type weapon, most occur with pistols not AR-15s. And there are 23,000 suicides, we discussed that, a year, people are not using assault weapons in the majority of these deaths with guns.

The focus for a lot of us is not on the weapon, it's on the who, right? Why are people doing this, who's doing it and preventing them from doing it.

Some of us are focused on universal background checks which has massive support in the United States and what we call red flag laws where a family member or police can petition the court to say this person shouldn't have a firearm temporarily.

If you do those things, you prevent a lot of these big shootings in the United States.

VAUSE: Because there's every chance in the world that the alleged shooter purchased this weapon or obtained this weapon in a perfectly legal manner?

LITTMAN: It happens. It happens very often that people are able to buy guns without much of a background check at all.

As a matter of fact, if a background check is not able to be completed in the three days -- some states, five days -- and if it's not completed, you get the gun, for example.

But let's look at that suicide issue again. If somebody wants to commit suicide, sometimes that's a spontaneous thing. If they're able to just go get a gun and shoot themselves well, the odds are very significant that they're going to commit suicide.

If there's a waiting period, it can prevent some of that, give the person a chance to take a deep breath -- and like we said, 23,000 suicides, we'd like to lower those numbers of suicides. And background checks and red flag laws would be very significant.

It's really very often, John, about the people more than it is some ways about the weapon.

VAUSE: Yes. But we also -- just very quickly. We have a police response within minutes on scene. The first police officer lost his life responding to this, nine other people were shot dead in a very short period of time.

That tends to put to rest this whole theory that you often hear from conservatives that if only there was a good guy with a gun to take out the bad guy with the gun, right?

[01:25:00]

LITTMAN: Well, John, people are shooting each other, somebody's going to die, right, somebody's going to get hurt. The idea is that we should not have that happen.

We have an incredible number of deaths by gun, over 40,000. How do we lower that number? There are 340 million guns in circulation in the United States. We're not going to be able to get to zero on that at all. But how do we make it safer? Most of the country, a significant majority of Americans, favor these basic laws. So it's really up to the Senate now to make that happen.

VAUSE: We'll see. But there's always this expectation after a shooting that there will be some kind of reform put in place. But if it didn't happen after Sandy Hook -- I guess you got to keep trying, just hoping that something does happen.

Mathew, thank you. Mathew Littman there for us.

LITTMAN: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: Appreciate it.

We'll take a short break. When we come back, the supermarket shooter described as deliberate and silent as he gunned down his victims.

Our security analysts weigh in on what this tells us about the shooter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:14]

VAUSE: Welcome back everybody.

More on our breaking news this hour from Boulder, Colorado where an 11-year veteran of the Boulder PD is among 10 people shot and killed at a supermarket. 51-year-old Eric Talley was one of the first officers on scene. According to multiple witnesses, the gunman walked into the store, opened fire, apparently armed with an AR-15 style rifle. He is now in police custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIS HEROLD, BOULDER COLORADO POLICE CHIEF: At 1430 hours, the Boulder Police Department began receiving phone calls of shots fired in the area and a phone call about a possible person with a patrol rifle.

Officer Talley responded to the scene, was the first on the scene. And he was fatally shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The moment Boulder police arrived on the scene, it seems the shooting began. The calls back and forth recorded on police radio captures some of the moments as this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 136. We're in gunfight, open radio. 136, multiple shots seen fired at us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I copy. We're taking multiple rounds. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're taking rifle fire as soon as we -- patrol entered the building. If we can get the rolling shield up here ASAP, that would be perfect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Start pushing slow. But be advised we do not know where he is. He's armed with a rifle. Our officers shot back and returned fire. We do now know where he is in the store.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: For more now Juliette Kayyem is with us. She's a CNN national security analyst. Juliette, thank you for being us and taking the time.

We don't know a lot about the shooter right now except he was armed with an AR-15 style weapons. It could be used as a semi-automatic or a single shot. Witness accounts like the one we just heard described one or two shots at a time.

He didn't just spray so he was deliberate. And whoever he shot, he killed. He never said a word. He was silent. What does that tell you.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So this is where the motive is going to be key. Whenever there is a big facility or place like this in which there's a major shooting, you do want to look to the suspect's ties to the organization, to the company, or to anyone who worked there.

On the other hand, this maybe a sociopath who was just enjoying the time it takes to kill people individually as it appears that he did with the single shot.

We also don't know where in the building the shots occurred and whether that is going to expose or give investigators a sense of what he might have been after or whether this was just, you know, a random and yet, you know, totally horrific incident.

VAUSE: I guess the follow up to that then in terms of motive is to link the time it's taken for any information about those who were killed --

KAYYEM: I know.

VAUSE: -- this happened what, between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, local time for hours -- no names, nothing.

KAYYEM: So yes, this is -- this is a lot like other cases -- Columbine was -- excuse Sandy Hook was also pretty devastating in this regard in terms of the time it took to notify family members and next of kin.

You remember there was an earlier press conference which seemed, you know, not right in the sense that they weren't even willing to say specifically, look we haven't reach the family members yet.

Now that we know that there's 10 dead, most of them would likely be easily identified because if you're in a market, you will likely have a wallet or something on your possession and so hopefully we can get those names in the morning.

One of the reasons why they may not have disclosed the names tonight, because remember they closed out tonight, the police department, and said we'll be back in the morning. It's to give the family some time before being approached by media and others to mourn and those names will be released as they often are, you know, 20 -- 24 hours later.

VAUSE: When the alleged gunman was taken away by police, he was shirtless and shoeless --

KAYYEM: Yes.

VAUSE: -- he was alive so it makes this stand out from what we've often seen in the past because mass shooting although in Atlanta, this week there was also -- last week I should say -- the gunman was also taken alive -- the alleged gunman.

So does that make this a different shooting in some regard?

KAYYEM: Well, so this is where we don't -- what we call the cheat (ph) talk is going to be very, very important because we have a police officer dead. He was the first police officer that entered and at least in the press conference, they said that he was instrumental in ensuring that not more people were dead.

So what we don't know is was -- is injuries by the suspect caused by the police officer who was shot in the process. So that's the key that I'm looking for right now. and that would explain his injuries but the fact that he was still alive that he may have been injured but still alive when the rest of the police came into the building.

[01:35:04]

VAUSE: And in terms of response, you know, we heard from the police chief saying that, you know, law enforcement was on the scene within minutes --

KAYYEM: Yes.

VAUSE: -- on receiving those 911 calls. And they said that saved lives. But still we have this death toll of at least 10 people.

KAYYEM: I know.

Well, this is -- I mean this is the nature of these guns and the nature of the kind of communities that we live in and I think the nature of the way that these things unfold which is to kill 10 people with a single shot does not take that long. No amount of response time could stop a man with the right kind of gun from killing 10 people before any police officer even knew that it was happening.

And so this is a particularly horrific American tradition that you and I come back every couple of months. And I think what's important is, you know, as we come out of COVID, we're together in more places, movie theaters, schools, markets, places where we see these mass shootings. We have to be extra vigilant because we don't know what the consequences of the kind of year so many people went through will be for the heightened risk that America will face in the months to come.

VAUSE: Yes. Just very quickly, parts of the shooting were live streamed on social media by those sort of caught up in this instant. What's your take on that? Is it harmful? Is it helpful?

KAYYEM: It's helpful to memorialize it for the investigation purpose. You do worry if there's -- if the shooter becomes notorious or famous because of it which we've seen in other case where the livestream becomes a sort of rallying cry for copy cats and other psychos who sort of like the images.

But I would never -- look, if you are in the middle of an active shooter event, don't worry about what you're memorializing, get the heck out of Dodge, right. I mean it's not worth -- you don't want to be doing that. You need to leave. You need to get out and call authorities when you're out and save as many lives as possible.

VAUSE: Yes. If you're in a position where you can live stream the shooting, you're too close.

KAYYEM: Yes.

VAUSE: And probably there's a safer place to be better.

KAYYEM: Right.

VAUSE: Juliette, thank you so much.

Appreciate you being with us.

KAYYEM: Thanks so much. Bye.

VAUSE: Ok.

We'll continue our coverage of the Boulder shooting after a break. We'll also head live to Israel, where voting will soon begin in the fourth general election in two years with an outcome likely to continue the political gridlock.

[01:32:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage from Colorado.

Authorities are investigating a mass shooting at a grocery store in Boulder which has claimed 10 lives. There's no information yet on the shooter, no information about a motive. We are told, he used an AR-15 style rifle.

In a statement, Colorado's governor said today, "We saw the face of evil and our community anxiously awaits more information on the victims."

Most of their names have not been released. The next police conference, news conference scheduled in about nine hours from now. Earlier, CNN spoke with a family member of some of the witnesses. He described how they managed to escape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MCHUGH, FAMILY WAS AT SUPERMARKET DURING SHOOTING: They were right there from the first shot to the last. And Paul was in line to go get a COVID shot, third person in line and that's when at least one shooter came in and killed the woman at the front of the line in front of him. I think thankfully the girls didn't see that.

They were on the phone with their grandmother and they all then -- eight shots in a row. There may have been as many as 50 or 60 shots, according to my son-in-law.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: And so your son-in-law quickly scooped up the girls and they ran upstairs to a closet and they hid.

MCHUGH: Thank God. You know, then would -- Paul would come out and try to silence phones and didn't know who was coming up the stairs next. A lot of the action was right below them at the pharmacy.

Extraordinarily terrifying. Of course, the little one saying yes. And you know, the coats weren't long enough to hide our feet as they were standing by in the coats in the closet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: We'll have more on this story ahead. Please stay with CNN.

In the meantime, some other news.

For the fourth time in two years, Israelis are once again heading to the poles to vote in a snap election and according to the most recent polling from last Friday, the political gridlock which led to this unprecedented fourth election could continue.

But this time around Israeli's longest serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is campaigning on a successful COVID vaccination rollout. He's facing a divided opposition as well.

Journalist Elliott Gotkine is outside a polling place in Jerusalem. He is with us now live. I guess, you know, the other big difference here is in logistics. A big increase in the number of absentee ballots and that's a bit like a cat in a washing machine. You never really know what's going to happen until it's done.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: That's right, John. I mean not only are the absentee ballots from diplomats, soldiers and the like but this time around, the kind of so-called double envelope vote which are usually for absentee ballots and will also be applying to those people suffering from COVID-19.

Now there are about 15,000 Israelis suffering from COVID-19 and these drive-thru polling stations had been set up across the country -- there are hundreds of them and there are few hundred also for the 65,000 or so Israelis who are currently in quarantine.

[01:44:55]

GOTKINE: And those votes -- these so-called double envelope votes take longer to count. They are counted last. So that could delay the eventual results.

Another wild card here is that there are about half a dozen parties that are hovering around the threshold of 3.25 percent of the vote. And that's an important number because if they don't get that number or higher, those votes go down the drain. And that could affect both supporters of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ability to get reelected. And also his opponents and their ability to kick him out of office, John.

VAUSE: Elliott, thank you. Elliott Gotkine there in Jerusalem with the very latest. Appreciate that.

When we come back, China is now felling the heat possibly over those human rights abuses in Xinjiang. We'll tell you how Beijing is now reacting to new sanctions from the international community.

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[01:50:03]

VAUSE: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage of Boulder, Colorado where a gunman has shot and killed 10 people at a grocery store. The second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than a week.

51-year-old Eric Talley, a father of seven, a veteran of the Boulder PD was the first police officer on scene and is among the dead. The shooter was the only one wounded and is now in custody.

A law enforcement sources tells CNN he was armed with an Ar-15 style rifle. No word so far on the motive or if he knew the victims.

Well, China has been slapped with international sanctions over treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang Province. A joint statement from the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the European Union cites China's extensive repression of the Muslim minority including forced labor, mass detention and forced sterilization.

China retaliated with sanctions targeting the E.U. It's worth noting the European Union called on Beijing to in talks on human rights as opposed to confrontation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEP BORRELL, EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: Rather than change these policies and address our legitimate concerns, China has again turned a blind eye and these measures are regrettable and unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CNN's Selina Wang following developments live from Tokyo this hour. And not only that but Beijing summoned the E.U. ambassador soon after these sanctions were put in place.

And it's hit back fair hard and aggressively. Was that expected.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, absolutely. I mean this was carefully coordinated action, it sends an extremely powerful message to Beijing. It was a show of force meant to isolate and pressure. So not surprisingly, it was met with swift immediate retaliation.

China has imposed sanctions on 10 E.U. politicians and four entities for quote, "spreading lies and disinformation. They are going to be banned from entering Mainland China, Hong Kong as well as Macau and their related companies will be restricted from doing business with China.

Now this as you say is part of a coordinated effort between the U.S., E.U., U.K. and Canada to all impose their own sanctions on Chinese individuals and entities for human rights violations in Xinjiang.

The moves imposed travel bans and asset freezes. And it is part of Biden's stated strategy on China which is to coordinate with allies to pressure and confront the country.

There was also a joint statement from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance. They said quote, "The evidence including from the Chinese government's own documents, satellite imagery and eyewitness testimony is overwhelming. China's extensive program of repression includes severe restrictions on religious freedoms, the use of forced labor, mass detention in internment camps, forced sterilizations and the concerted destruction of Uyghur heritage."

John, this is a major shift from Trump's go it alone strategy when it comes to sanctions. We've also seen the Biden administration coordinate with the E.U. recently to impose sanctions on Russia. But when it comes to China, it is more challenging and complex because of how important China is economically.

You have the E.U. and U.K. simultaneously trying to confront China on human rights abuses while also trying to deepen those economic ties, John.

VAUSE: Selina, thank you. Selina Wang there, live in Tokyo. Thanks.

Now there's international condemnation too for Myanmar's military but still the deadly crackdown on protesters shows no sign of letting up.

An advocacy group reports three people killed Monday, a 15 year old boy among the dead according to Reuters. Overall more than 260 people are believed to being (ph) killed since last month's coup.

The military now faces new sanctions from the European Union and the United States. The E.U. targeted 11 individuals including the military's commander in chief. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEIKO MAAS, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): What we are witnessing there in terms of excessive violence is absolutely unacceptable. The number of murders has reached an unbearable extent which is why we will not be able to avoid imposing sanctions against those whoa re responsible for what is happening in the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Monday's second round of U.S. sanctions target a senior member of the Police force, a military officer as well as two army divisions.

A massive fire has swept through Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh.

That was a frantic scene in Cox's Bazar on Monday. An official at the camp says at least five people were killed, 3,000 homes destroyed. No word yet on the cause but the U.N. says tens of thousands of refugees are affected. Black smoke billowed over the shanty homes, many fled on foot with whatever belongings they could carry.

The blaze is the largest of multiple fires and it's broken out in the densely populated camp this year.

[01:54:54]

VAUSE: As many as one million Rohingya had been living in Cox's Bazar after fleeing a brutal crackdown by Myanmar's military about four years ago.

And thousands more evacuations could soon be ordered in Australia's New South Wales which has faced days of historic life-threatening rain and flooding. Even more rain is expected through Wednesday. Officials say as many as 15,000 people might join the 18,000 who've already been moved to safe zones. The state's premier calls the situation catastrophic.

And we continue to follow the breaking news out of Colorado where 10 people including a police officer have been killed in a supermarket, the second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than a week.

A lot more on this ahead. Please stay with CNN.

I'll be back after a very short break.

[01:55:37]

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