When Boulder, Colo., police entered a hospital to arrest the suspect accused of killing 10 people in a mass shooting at a grocery store this week, officers were intent on doing so with the pair of handcuffs left behind by their fallen colleague.
“Officers informed him the handcuffs used that day were those of Officer Eric Talley,” the Boulder Police Department tweeted Thursday, featuring a black-and-white photo of Talley’s handcuffs. “The suspect was then taken to jail.”
This week several Boulder Police officers & others responded to a local hospital to formally place Monday’s shooting suspect into custody. As they did, officers informed him the handcuffs used that day were those of Officer Eric Talley. The suspect was then taken to jail 1/2 pic.twitter.com/fSjuw0hr6G
— Boulder Police Dept. (@boulderpolice) March 25, 2021
The announcement from Boulder police came the same day a judge ruled that Alissa, 21, would be held without bail through his next status hearing in two or three months. Alissa has not yet offered a plea in the case.
The delay granted by Judge Thomas F. Mulvahill in the six-minute hearing Thursday was because of what Kathryn Herold, one of Alissa’s public defenders, described as the defense team’s inability to “fully assess Mr. Alissa’s mental illness” without “the discovery from the government.” Herold did not give additional details as to what Alissa might be suffering from and did not immediately return a request for comment from The Washington Post.
Before the court appearance, Alissa had not been seen publicly since authorities arrested him outside the store Monday, stripped to his shorts with blood from a gunshot wound rushing down one leg.
Alissa was in stable condition when police arrived at the hospital Tuesday to arrest the suspect while honoring Talley.
As The Post’s Andrea Salcedo and Paulina Firozi reported, Talley joined the Boulder Police Department after one of his closest friends died in a DUI crash in 2010. He left his career in information technology to serve his community.
In the days since the shooting, Talley has been remembered as a husband and father who loved nothing more than his family of seven children and his job. As part of the outpouring of support for the victims this week, law enforcement, firefighters and civilians gathered along roadways and overpasses Wednesday as Talley’s body was escorted by police from the coroner’s office to a funeral home.
Thank you to everyone who lined the roadways, overpasses and more this afternoon to show your support as fallen BPD Officer Eric Talley was escorted from the Coroner's Office to the funeral home. Words can't express just how much this meant to us #BoulderStrong pic.twitter.com/Ri6MQXXhqP
— Boulder Police Dept. (@boulderpolice) March 25, 2021
Police said Thursday that arresting the suspect with Talley’s handcuffs was the least they could do to help remember their beloved colleague.
“It was our distinct honor to use Officer Talley’s handcuffs to formally process him into the jail,” the police department tweeted. “Though this was a small gesture, we hope it is the start of the healing process that so many of us need at this time.”
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