Case against Boulder King Soopers shooter goes to jury

Prosecutors seeking to convict a schizophrenic man in the killings of 10 people inside a Boulder King Soopers implored a jury during closing arguments Friday to remember the planning and research into weapons and ammunition he conducted before he opened fire using a scope to target victims inside the supermarket in March 2021.

Defense attorneys for Ahmad Alissa argued psychotic delusions and mental illness rendered him unable to understand his actions were morally wrong. 

The case now rests in the hands of jurors who will decide whether Alissa, 25, was able to understand right from wrong when he began shooting inside the supermarket, killing nine shoppers and a police officer. 

“This is fun, this is fun,” Assistant District Attorney Ken Kupfner said Friday, reminding the jury of the words a pharmacist testified she heard the gunman say as she hid from gunfire. 

“You’re sick, you’re sick,” Kupfner said, addressing Alissa. “Mental illness does not mean insane, even severe schizophrenia does not mean insane.”

Alissa pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Neither Alissa’s attorneys nor anyone else has disputed that Alissa was the gunman. 

If Alissa is found guilty of a single first-degree murder charge, he will be sentenced to prison without the possibility of parole. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, he will be sentenced to the Colorado state hospital until he is determined to be restored. 

On Friday, Alissa sat next to his attorneys inside a packed courtroom. 

Alissa’s defense attorneys urged jurors that Alissa’s mind was “drowned” in his psychosis and voices he heard in his head, telling him to kill. 

“This tragedy was born out of disease, not choice,” Kathryn Herold, Alissa’s public defender, said. “What we know is that Mr. Alissa committed these crimes because he was psychotic and delusional.” 

Prosecution argued Alissa intended to kill people when he walked inside the supermarket and months before, when he bought ammunition and other supplies for the shooting. Six days before the attack, he bought a scope and a second firearm, an AR pistol.

“His planning and preparation were designed to maximize and increase lethality. He wanted to kill as many people as he possibly could. That’s what the evidence in this case shows,” Kupfner said. 

Search history from his phone showed Alissa looking in the days before the attack for the most deadly types of ammunition and a target for the mass shooting, looking up public places like restaurants, shopping malls and grocery stores. 

“He sat in his car for almost five minutes — opportunity for reflection and judgment,” Kupfner said. “This wasn’t a hasty act, ladies and gentlemen. This is something that had been planned and prepared for at least three months based on the evidence that we presented in this trial.”

Defense lawyers recalled the testimony of Alissa’s parents and siblings, who said they watched his mental health deteriorate in the months before the shooting. 

“They told you they could’ve never have imagined this,” Herold said. “Even though he might have been talking, laughing to himself, they never ever saw any violence, they never ever saw any anger, they never could’ve imagined.”

She told the jury to consider the medications Alissa was prescribed for his chronic mental condition that would likely “continue to deteriorate over time.”

“Mr Alissa has not told us a lot but one of the consistent things he’s always told us is he was hearing voices, killing voices. He’s hearing those killing voices as he gets in the car and drives to Boulder, he’s hearing those killing voices as he drives into the parking lot. He’s hearing those killing voices until he starts shooting,” Herold said. 

“I really want you to think about what it could be like to all of a sudden, one day, start hearing someone yelling and yelling and yelling and yelling in your head all day, or maybe just at night, or maybe just in the morning,” Herold said, shouting at the jury. 

“They are killing voices. Kill, kill, kill.”

Consistent killing voices drove Alissa to buy the guns, drive to King Soopers, and start killing people inside the supermarket, his defense attorneys said, citing doctors who testified during the trial that Alissa had experienced symptoms of schizophrenia for several years and said the symptoms clouded his thinking. 

Prosecution argued Alissa killed deliberately when he shot several victims up to five times before they died and did not show signs of insanity when he listened to police orders before stripping down to his underwear and surrendering. 

Over the course of two weeks, survivors of the shooting testified about the moments they began to hear shots inside the supermarket and where they hid. Prosecutors called dozens of witnesses, police officers, customers to testify what they heard and saw amid the panic and horror as the shooting unfolded.

Ten people, including Boulder police officer Eric Talley, were killed in the attack. The first eight victims died within 69 seconds; all but one were shot multiple times and everyone who was shot was killed. 

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

Alissa faces 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of attempted murder and many other offenses, including felony possession of six high-capacity ammunition magazines that are banned in Colorado. 

Alissa said Wednesday he would not testify in his case and defense rested its case.