Jury finds Boulder King Soopers shooter guilty on 55 counts, including premeditated murder of ten people

CPR is covering the King Soopers shooting trial. You can read our statement on the case here.. You can read previous coverage of this case here.

Updated on September 28, 2024 at 16:28

A jury in Boulder took less than a day to find the perpetrator of a mass shooting at a supermarket that left ten people dead three years ago guilty.

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 25, was found guilty on 55 counts for the mass shooting at the King Soopers store on March 22, 2021.

Those convictions include the premeditated murder of 10 people, including a Boulder police officer who stormed the store when called to the scene, and the attempted murder of 38 people who tried to flee the store.

Since there is no death penalty in Colorado, Alissa will spend the rest of his life in prison.

After deliberating for about six hours over two days, jurors rejected his defense attorneys' claims that he was insane at the time of the shooting and that voices in his head had told him to kill people at the King Soopers store in 2021.

As Judge Ingrid Bakke read the verdict for more than 15 minutes in a packed Boulder courtroom on Monday, the families of those killed in the shooting cried silent tears, held handkerchiefs around their shoulders and tried to follow the judge's instructions to remain quiet and respectful in the courtroom.

One juror, an elderly woman, cried as the judge read the verdict. Other jurors appeared serious and stared at the carpet.

Alissa kept his eyes fixed on a yellow notebook, writing things down as he had done throughout the trial, sitting next to an assistant. He seemed to show no real emotion or interest in what was happening just feet in front of him as the judge read his fate into a microphone. He spoke to a lawyer and his attorneys.

He did not look back at his family, who were seated directly behind him. His family stared blankly straight ahead. They did not attend the subsequent sentencing, leaving him alone to listen to more than an hour of grueling testimony and tears from the victim. He sat next to one of his public defenders, Sam Dunn.

Between the verdict and the sentencing, Alissa changed from her court clothes (dress pants and shirt) to striped prison clothes. He was no longer shackled, but was shackled with handcuffs and leg irons.

As he sat there, apparently still writing or drawing things, the victims stood up to address the judge and Alissa.

“I think it's important to talk about who Nevan was. He's not just another statistic of people who lost their lives in mass shootings,” said Nicolina Stanisic, the sister of Nevan Stanisic, who was the first person killed after Alissa got out of his car. Stanisic was shot in his car. “He was a human being, he had people he loved… He never got to do anything he set out to do. Nevan was such a caring, kind and selfless person.”

Erika Mahoney spoke to the judge about her father, Kevin Mahoney, who was also gunned down in the parking lot. She said she was working as a journalist in California when her mother repeatedly called her.

She knew something was wrong, she said. As they spoke, she heard the words “active shooter,” “King Soopers” and “your dad went shopping,” she said through tears.

“I wish the young man behind the gun had experienced more love in his life, then maybe this would never have happened,” she told the judge.

This caused Alissa to blink and look up from his notebook. He looked at Mahoney and then at the medium, blinking rapidly.

“There are so many words to choose from. How about 'I'm sorry? Where is my apology?' An iota of remorse from the defendant and his family would have gone a long way,” she said, noting that if Alissa had gotten out of his car with his gun and shouted, “I need help,” her father would have been the first to arrive. “He would have shown you love.”

During Alissa's three-week trial, no one disputed that the man suffered from severe schizophrenia and had been deteriorating in the months before the shooting. His family said he had become increasingly isolated and behaved strangely – especially after he contracted COVID-19 in November 2020.

After the verdict was read, Alissa's mother, Khadija Alhidid, said through one of her sons outside the courthouse that Alissa had been ill the whole time.

“Before the incident he was sick; after the incident he was sick. And now in court you're saying that during the incident he was OK and not crazy? We just don't know what kind of illness that is. We just come from a different culture, a different world,” she said.

Although his lawyers claimed that he heard voices that drove him insane on the day of the shooting, not a single medical expert could testify that he was insane the day Alissa allegedly shot ten people.

Prosecutors tried to prove that he planned a targeted attack from January to March. He researched other mass shootings. He bought guns and bomb-making materials on Amazon. He went to the shooting range with his brothers to practice with his assault rifle.

On the day of the shooting, he was eating breakfast with his family. He drove his brother to work and then deliberately drove past several nearby King Soopers stores where his family shopped to head to the Boulder's Table Mesa store at 2:30 p.m.

“His intention was to cause his death,” said Ken Kupfner, assistant district attorney, during his closing argument. “Eight lives ended in 68 seconds, that's preparation, planning training, eight lives in 68 seconds – that doesn't happen. Those lives were taken with deliberation and intent.”

In order for a defendant to be found not guilty by reason of insanity in Colorado, defense attorneys must prove that the defendant is so mentally disabled that he cannot distinguish between right and wrong. Schizophrenia does not automatically constitute insanity under the law.

After the shooting, Alissa told doctors, “I did not commit the attack in January. I did not commit the attack in February … because I was still practicing and I was not ready. By March, I had enough practice.”

Alissa's family said that in the weeks and months leading up to the shooting, Alissa's personal hygiene suffered and he became increasingly paranoid, including breaking a car key fob and blocking his cell phone because he thought the FBI was tracking him.

They never sought help for him. His father said they believed he was possessed by demons, and his brothers thought he was acting strangely – but prosecutors stressed that his behavior was never strange or dangerous enough to report to police or psychiatrists or to take away the weapons they all knew he kept in his bedroom.

“He was not normal,” said his father, Moustafa Alissa. “But we did not expect him to do what he did. We knew he was not normal, but we did not expect what he did.”

On March 22, 2021, Alissa dropped his brother off at work in Arvada and drove to the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder. He killed three people in the parking lot who tried to escape him before entering the store and killing seven more people, including Eric Talley, one of the three police officers who first arrived on the scene.

Killed in the shooting were Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Teri Leiker, 51; Talley, 51; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.

Allisa was born in the United States, one of 10 children in a family that migrated between Syria and the U.S. Alissa's father said there is a strong stigma in their culture against not seeking help for mental health issues.

In a recorded interview played to the court by defense attorneys, Alissa claimed he was trying to quiet the voices in his head.

“I thought that's what the voices wanted, a mass shooting,” he said.

His lawyers also stressed that he had been in the Colorado State Mental Hospital for three years since the shooting and that a psychologist who examined him said he may have been unable to distinguish between right and wrong.

The prosecution countered with a portrait of a young man who lives in a large multi-generational house and works as a cook in the family restaurant. And the shooting was planned for a long time and not just a psychotic fit of rage.

For three months, he bought weapons and chemicals for bomb-making, researched the deadliest types of munitions and looked for public places to target.

During the shooting, he apparently targeted people who were trying to hide and escape. Two men in the store did not understand or hear what was happening in real time and did not hide.

Alissa ran right past them and left them alone.

Judy Talley, Eric Talley's mother, told the judge on Monday that her son called her “mommy” until he was 51, the age when he was shot.

“Alissa could do whatever he wanted, but his actions have consequences,” she said. “It was three and a half years of pure, brutal hell… I didn't think anything could make my pain worse, but thanks to Ahmad Alissa and the videos I saw, I saw my son take his last breath. I want him to know that maybe he thought he had extinguished Eric's light. He didn't.”