Gun used in Boulder shooting bought less than a week earlier

Authorities on Tuesday said that the 21-year-old gunman who opened fire in a Boulder, Colo. supermarket on Monday bought the gun he used less than a week before the shooting that left 10 people dead.

Court documents obtained by The Associated Press show that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa bought the AR-15 rifle he used on March 22 six days before the shooting at a King Soopers supermarket. The documents do not indicate where Alissa bought the gun.

An unnamed law enforcement official briefed on the shooting told the AP that officials are attempting to trace the gun.

Alissa has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder. Police have not yet identified a motive for his attack.

This attack was the seventh mass killing in the U.S. this year, the AP notes, occurring less than a week after a gunman in Atlanta killed eight people, including six Asian women.

Alissa’s family told authorities he was suffering from some form of mental illness, with relatives reporting that Alissa told them he was being followed or chased.

Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse (D), whose district includes Boulder, said Tuesday that “the time for inaction is over” when it comes to gun control laws while appearing on “CBS This Morning.”

“The gun lobby and so many others have stopped the ability to make meaningful reforms in the past, but that’s no excuse. I think the American people are tired of excuses,” Neguse said.

President Biden on Tuesday called on Congress to pass a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in response to the shooting. He also called for loopholes in the background check system to be closed.

“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Biden said. “We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again. I got that done when I was a senator. … We should do it again.”