Gunman who killed 10 people at Colorado grocery store found guilty of murder | Gun violence news

The jury rejects the defense's argument that Ahmad Alissa was insane and heard voices before the 2021 shooting.

A gunman who shot and killed 10 people at a Colorado grocery store in 2021 has been found guilty of murder and could face life in prison.

On Monday, a jury rejected the defense's argument that 25-year-old Ahmad Alissa should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense had argued that Alissa had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was unable to understand the significance of his actions when he opened fire at the King Soopers grocery store in the city of Boulder.

“This tragedy is the result of an illness and not a conscious decision,” defense attorney Kathryn Herold told the jury in her closing argument.

District Attorney Michael Dougherty, meanwhile, argued that the nature of the attack showed that Alissa acted intentionally.

“He is methodical and brutal,” Dougherty told jurors.

Whether Alissa was responsible for the shooting or the details of the attack were never questioned during the trial, which began earlier this month.

Alissa had started shooting shortly after arriving in the store's parking lot, killing three people before going inside. He pursued several of those he shot and looked for others who were hiding.

Prosecutors pointed to those decisions as evidence that Alissa acted reasonably during the attack. They also argued that the illegal magazines and steel bullets Alissa was carrying showed the attack was premeditated.

State forensic psychologists said Alissa's fear of being arrested or killed by police showed he was mentally healthy at the time of the murders. Still, the psychologists said they could not confirm their findings with full confidence – a point the defense took up.

Alissa had repeatedly told psychologists that he heard “deadly voices,” but he did not provide further details. Alissa's family also reported that he was withdrawn and spoke little, and that in the years before the attack he had become increasingly paranoid and heard voices. They said he had not received any psychiatric treatment before the attack.

State forensic psychologists also concluded that voices likely played a role in the attack and that they did not believe it would have happened if he had not suffered from mental illness.

However, Colorado law distinguishes between insanity and insanity, the latter being defined as a mental illness so severe that it is impossible for a person to distinguish between right and wrong.

The verdict concluded a trial full of harrowing testimony from survivors of the attack.

One survivor, an emergency room doctor, said she crawled onto a shelf and hid among bags of potato chips.

A pharmacist at the grocery store testified that she heard Alissa say “This is fun” at least three times as he fired a semi-automatic pistol that resembled an AR-15 rifle through the store.

Prosecutors said Alissa, who was born in Syria and emigrated to the United States with his family as a small child, was looking for possible attack sites. However, they did not give any other motive.