Boulder (US), Mar 26 (AP) The suspect in the Colorado supermarket shootings bought a gun before the shooting at a local gun store after passing a background check, the store's owner said Friday.

John Mark Eagleton, owner of Eagles Nest Armory in the Denver suburb of Arvada, said in a statement that his store was cooperating with authorities as they investigate the Monday shooting that killed 10 people, including a police officer.

Eagleton said the suspect in the shooting, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, passed a background check conducted by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation before purchasing the firearm.

Authorities previously said Alissa, 21, purchased the AR-15 style gun used in the mass shooting on March 16, six days before Monday's fatal shootings. Alissa is from Arvada.

About 2,000 people gathered for a vigil honouring the 10 people killed in the Colorado supermarket shooting Thursday night after attorneys for the shooting suspect asked during his first court appearance that he receive a mental health evaluation before the case against him proceeds.

The memorial at Fairview High School, a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from the scene of the shooting at a King Soopers supermarket, emphasized remembrance and healing. The crowd said aloud the names of those slain this week in Boulder after one resident read the names of the eight people killed in a mass shooting in Georgia just days earlier.

Many held candles and roses while locking arms or embracing each other near the base of the snow-covered Rocky Mountain foothills. After a singer led the crowd in “Amazing Grace,” Nicole LiaBraaten, a local leader of the gun-control group Moms Demand Action, asked people to “take a healing breath.”

“Our hearts are broken, and our festering wounds are split open once again. And this time it's for the whole world to see,” said Liabraaten, whose group helped organize the vigil.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, whose district includes Boulder, told the crowd no words could describe how he felt when he heard about the shooting.

“Ten lives. Ten precious lives lost too soon and remembered by so many,” he said.

Neguse said he had spoken with some of his colleagues about how to curb gun violence. “It does not have to be this way,” he said, prompting cheers.

One woman yelled, “Ban assault weapons.” That prompted another woman to scold her for not showing respect. “This is about people who died,” she said. “This is a memorial.”

Earlier Thursday, an attorney for accused shooter Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa asked for the mental health evaluation but provided no details about Alissa's mental health. The suspect's next hearing will not be scheduled for two to three months to allow the defense to evaluate his mental state and evidence collected by investigators. (AP)

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