Boulder ‘shooter’ Ahmad Alissa yelled ‘I surrender! I’m naked!’ after ‘killing 10’ as tales of heroism emerge

, saying: "I knew since she is my elder, as she is older than me, I must protect her over myself and so instinctively I pushed her into a corner, covered her with trash cans and then tried to find a place for myself."

However, 6 foot 5 Smith said it wasn't as easy to hide himself, saying: "My last resort was a trash can that my head was visible outside of so I wasn’t in the safest situation."

Smith added that Alissa did not speak until the police arrived, adding "they shouted at him, gunshots were fired. It was just silence and the store music."

He described the deadly ordeal, which saw him lose three co-workers, as the "longest 20 minutes of my life." However, he does not claim he is a hero for his actions.

"As a grocery store employee, we signed the paper when we got the job — the customers are first and I’ll put my life underneath their lives," said Smith, a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

"If anyone was going to die, it was me before my customers, before my co-workers."

"I don’t consider myself a hero. I believe our police department, I believe the officer that was shot at the entrance, he is the biggest hero of it all."

The alleged shooter bought an assault rifle six days before opening fire inside a crowded Colorado supermarket, according to an arrest affidavit released on Tuesday.

Witnesses described the gunman shooting victims one-by-one with a rifle in the graphic massacre.

Video showed police escorting a man – the alleged gunman – in handcuffs away from the scene, dressed in nothing but shorts and covered in blood.

Initial reports said that at least six were killed in the shooting, but the death toll was later revealed to be ten.

Denny Strong, 20, Neven Stoanisic, 23, Rikki Olds, 25, Tralona Bartkowiak, 49, Suzanne Fountain, 59, Teri Leiker, 51, Officer Eric Talley, 51, Kevin Mahoney, 61, Lynn Murray, 62, Jody Waters, 65 were the 10 victims.

Officer Talley, 51, was one of the first to arrive on the scene – and was shot dead as he raced inside to tackle the gunman.

The suspect's brother told the Beast that the alleged gunman's house was searched by authorities following the shooting.

According to a Facebook page, that appeared to be Ahmad's, he was "born in Syria 1999" before he "came to the USA in 2002."

The 21-year-old would post regularly on Facebook, including sharing the hashtag "NeedAGirlfriend" and sharing memes about video games.

He also made a claim that "racist Islamophobic people" were "hacking my phone" and stopping him from having a "normal life."

Ahmad also shared a video that's caption claimed it showed a "corrections officer turn off his body cam before repeatedly punching an inmate with a mental health condition," which he caption: "This is not okay."

His school, Arvada West High School, confirmed to The Sun that Alissa was a student from March 2015 until he graduated in May 2018.

"Jeffco Public Schools and the Board of Education are saddened by the tragic event that took place in Boulder," the school said.

"We share the heartbreak of the families, coworkers, and friends of the victims and of the Colorado community that again faces another senseless act of violence."