Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse says mass shootings like the one at a Boulder grocery store 'cannot be our new normal'

Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse said mass shootings "cannot be our new normal" in the wake of the Boulder grocery store shooting that left 10 dead.

"We should be able to feel safe in our grocery stores," Neguse, a Democratic member of Congress since 2019, said. "We should be able to feel safe in our schools and in our movie theaters and in our communities. We need to see a change because we have lost far too many lives."

A shooter, identified Tuesday by police as 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, opened fire at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder Monday afternoon, killing 10 people, including a police officer.

The accused shooter was taken into custody by police and was charged with 10 counts of murder.

Neguse said the city of Boulder and the state have endured "a devastating 24 hours."

"Coloradans went to their local King Soopers to pick up groceries, to buy eggs, some of them to get a COVID vaccine," Neguse said. "And in a mere instant, our community was upturned by a senseless act of violence."

"And in this year of separation due to COVID — of loss and of loneliness — grocery stores like King Soopers have been one of our consistent gathering places," he added. "One of the few routine activities that we've continued to engage in as Coloradans and as Americans. It's hard to describe what it means for this safe place to see a horrible tragedy like this unfold."

The shooting was the second mass shooting in just a week in the US. Eight people, six of them Asian women, were killed in a March 16 rampage at three spas in the Atlanta area.