Colorado supermarket shooter found guilty of murder

BOULDER, Colorado (AP) – A mentally ill man who killed 10 people in a Colorado supermarket in 2021 was sentenced to life in prison for murder on Monday after a jury rejected his attempt to avoid prison time by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

Relatives of the victims described in painful testimonies the lives destroyed by gunman Ahmad Alissa in the 2021 attack in the university town of Boulder.

“We hope the person who did this suffers for the rest of his life. He is a coward,” said Nikolena Stanisic, whose only sibling Neven was killed. “I hope this haunts the defendant until the end of his days. The defendant deserves the absolute worst.”

Stanisic recalled going out for ice cream with her brother the night before the shooting and how he sometimes helped her pay the bills. Her household – once filled with conversation and laughter – is now largely silent, she said in court.

The defense did not deny that Alissa, who suffers from schizophrenia, shot ten people, including a police officer. But they argued he was crazy at the time of the attack and could not distinguish between right and wrong. He was the last person to fail in an attempt to be acquitted Reason of insanity.

In addition to first-degree murder, the jury found Alissa guilty of 38 counts of attempted murder, one count of assault, and six counts of illegal possession of large-capacity magazines.

Judge Ingrid Bakke sentenced him to ten consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders and an additional 1,334 years for the other crimes.

“This was not about mental illness. This was about brutal, intentional violence,” said District Attorney Michael Dougherty.

Alissa, now 25, declined through his lawyers to make a statement at the sentencing.

The courtroom was mostly filled with family members of the victims and police officers, including officers Alissa shot. Several members of Alissa's family sat behind him.

Alissa began shooting immediately after getting out of his car in the parking lot of a King Soopers store in March 2021. He killed most of the victims in just over a minute and surrendered after a police officer shot him in the leg.

The daughter of slain police officer Eric Talley expressed regret over the important events in her life that she was unable to experience. But Madeline Talley said she would not hold on to her bitterness and would forgive Alissa.

“He taught me to believe that God brings good out of evil,” Madeline Talley said of her father.

Others were unwilling to forgive. Robert Olds – whose niece Rikki was killed – said Alissa's family should have been held criminally responsible because their “ignorance, inattention and inaction” directly led to the attack.

Alissa did not visibly react to the verdict. During the verdict, he sometimes looked at the victims' relatives while they spoke. Most of the time he sat hunched over, talking to his lawyer or writing.

The defense later declined to comment.

Prosecutors had to prove Alissa was sane. They argued he did not fire randomly and proved he was competent by chasing people who were running and trying to hide from him. He twice passed a 91-year-old man who continued shopping, unaware of the shooting.

He was armed with steel-piercing bullets and illegal 30-round magazines, which prosecutors say suggests he wanted to make the attack as deadly as possible.

During deliberations, jurors asked to view videos of Alissa killing the victims, following orders during his arrest and later being interviewed by psychologists.

Several members of Alissa’s family, who immigrated to the United States from Syria, testified that he had become withdrawn and spoken less for several years before the shooting. He began acting paranoid and showing signs of hearing voices, and his condition worsened after he contracted COVID-19 in late 2020.

Alissa was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the attack. According to experts, the behaviors described by relatives were consistent with the onset of the disease.

Psychologists who examined Alissa concluded that he was mentally healthy at the time of the shooting. The defense was not required to present evidence, nor could it present any experts who could assert that Alissa was mentally healthy.

Although he heard voices, state psychologists found he was not delusional. They said his fear that he could go to jail or be killed by police showed that Alissa knew his actions were wrong.

Alissa repeatedly told the psychologists that he heard voices, including “Killing Voices” shortly before the shooting. But during the six-hour interview, Alissa was unable to provide any further details about the voices or whether they had said anything specific, testified forensic psychologist B. Thomas Gray.

Insanity is not the same as mental illness. Under Colorado law, insanity is a mental illness so severe that the person is unable to distinguish between right and wrong.

Relatives of The victims attended the two-week trial and watched video footage from security cameras and police body cameras. Survivors testified how they escaped and, in some cases, helped others reach safety.

Prosecutors did not give a motive for the shooting. Alissa initially searched online for public places in Boulder that he could attack, including bars and restaurants. Then, the day before the shooting, he focused his research on large stores.

On the day of the attack, he drove from his home in the Denver suburb of Arvada to the first supermarket he found in Boulder. He shot three victims in the parking lot before entering the store.

An emergency room doctor said she crawled onto a shelf and hid among bags of potato chips. A pharmacist who took cover testified she heard Alissa say “This is fun” at least three times as he walked through the store firing his semi-automatic pistol that resembled an AR-15 rifle.

Alissa's mother told the court that she thought her son was “sick.” His father testified that he thought Alissa was possessed by a genieor an evil spirit, but did not seek treatment for his son because it would have been shameful for the family.

Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement that justice had been done. “Our loved ones, friends and neighbors were taken from us far too soon by an act of pure evil,” he said.