Tag: Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — More than three years after the mass shooting that killed 10 people at the Boulder King Soopers grocery store in March 2021, the defendant accused was found guilty on all charges — including 10 counts of first degree murder.

Along with the 10 first-degree murder charges, the defendant was found guilty on multiple charges of extreme indifference – attempt to commit murder in the first degree.

This decision came in the wake of 10 days of testimony that included psychologists, psychiatrists, survivors, and the defendant’s family members. In total, the jury deliberated for less than one day.

The defendant faced 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of attempted first-degree murder, 1 count of first-degree assault and 6 counts of possessing a large capacity magazine.

Sentencing is expected to follow the jury’s verdict. This is a developing story and will be updated.

Denver7 has chosen to not include the defendant’s name in our coverage of the trial to respect victims and their loved ones, and to not glorify the defendant.

Following the verdict, Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued a statement, which in part read:

“Three years ago our community felt the unbearable pain of losing ten of our fellow Coloradans in a senseless attack on the Boulder community. That day loved ones, friends, and neighbors were taken from us far too soon by an act of pure evil. Today, justice is served,” said Polis.

Denver7

He was arrested the same day as the mass shooting — on March 22, 2021 — but the case was stalled by several competency hearings. He was found competent to stand trial in August 2023 and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity three months later. He faces a slew of charges, including 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of attempted murder, first-degree assault, and six counts of using a large-capacity magazine in a crime, plus multiple crimes of violence.

This trial, which was overseen by Judge Ingrid Bakke, aimed to determine if the defendant was insane or not at the time of the shooting — not if he shot and killed people at the King Soopers, which the defense did not contest.

The 10 people who lost their lives that day were Suzanne Fountain, Rikki Olds, Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, Jody Waters, Denny Stong, Tralona Bartkowiak, Neven Stanisic, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray and Teri Leiker. Read more about them here.

Boulder King Soopers Shooting

Boulder strong: A day of remembrance honors the 10 lost

Denver7 followed every day of the trial leading up to the verdict. Read the summaries below.

Day one of trial | Sept. 5, 2024

Opening statements in this trial began on Thursday, Sept. 5, about three and a half years after the mass shooting.

Michael Dougherty, district attorney for the 20th Judicial District, and assistant district attorney Ken Kupfner made up the prosecution in this case. The defendant was represented by Kathryn Herold and Sam Dunn.

In Dougherty’s opening statements, he painted a picture of the scene and Boulder as a community. He said the defendant planned an intentional shooting, though the victims were random, and detailed the defendant’s steps as he killed each of the 10 victims. Dougherty argued that the defendant knew what he was doing was wrong when he dropped his weapons, took off almost all of his clothes and surrendered to police.

The central issue is the defendant’s claim of being not guilty by reason of insanity, he said, clarifying that a mental illness like schizophrenia — which the defendant was diagnosed with after the shooting — does not mean somebody is insane.

He said if the jury applies the law and looks at the evidence, “you will reach the right decision in this case.”

Denver7 breaks down key points in Boulder King Soopers shooting trial ahead of closing arguments

Dunn then provided opening statements for the defense.

He explained how the defendant began to exhibit signs that were the onset of a severe form of schizophrenia, namely screaming voices in his head. On the day of the shooting, he was in “throes of a psychotic episode,” Dunn said.

In a video played in court, a doctor involved in the sanity evaluations was heard asking the defendant earlier in 2024, “You said voices are what caused or resulted in you conducting a mass shooting?” He responds, “The consistent voices made me commit the mass shooting.”

“The law in Colorado says that you can understand what you’re doing is illegal and you can be insane,” he explained.

At the end of his opening statement, Dunn said the defendant was delusional and paranoid, and his reality was not the reality of the world.

Following opening statements, prosecutors began calling up their witnesses. This first day of testimony included individuals who either worked at the King Soopers, or were nearby or shopping at the grocery store.

Analysis: Should Boulder King Sooper gunman be absolved from legal responsibility?

Day two of trial | Sept. 6, 2024

Witness testimony kicked off the second day of the trial.

Jason Hebrard, an agent in charge with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation who responded to the scene, testified about creating a map of the defendant’s movements as he traveled from his home in Arvada to the Boulder supermarket.

Likewise, Aaron Wise, sergeant for the Boulder Police Department, described how he used traffic cameras, surveillance cameras, security cameras and more to track the defendant as he followed that route.

A few months before the trial began, Christopher Pyler, detective with the Westminster Police Department, had formally analyzed the defendant’s cell phone records between January and March 2021. He testified about lining up those records with multiple firearm purchases.

The fourth witness on the second day was Sarah Moonshadow, who was at the store with her adult son that day. Both ran from the shooter and escaped.

“Not thinking about anything else, other than we need to keep moving unpredictably so that we’re not traveling in a straight line,” she told the jury.

Elan Shakti, 79, was also at the store that day and recalled slipping and falling while trying to run away from the shooting.

“I was instantly praying, when I found out I couldn’t move myself. I just said, ‘God, I hope you’re ready for me, because I think this is it,’” Shakti told the court.

A young man helped her up and out of the store. That man, later identified as Christoper Tatum, testified on Sept. 9.

Haden Steele told the jury that he remembered “Just chaos, people screaming, running, gunshots, people mobbing toward the back exit.”

After hearing from some of the survivors, the prosecution brought up Joel Hegarty, special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who specializes in tracing firearms. In great detail, he explained where the defendant purchased each of the firearms, when they were picked up, and the total cost of each transaction.

The final two witnesses on this day — Julie Keeton and James William Graham — were both in the store that day. Keeton was an employee and Graham was grabbing lunch.

“I was devastated,” Graham told the jury about the aftermath. “Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Anxiety. Depression. Had to go through therapy.”

Boulder King Soopers shooting trial: Hear from survivors of the 2021 shooting

Day three of trial | Sept. 9, 2024

After the weekend, the prosecution continued calling up its witnesses, starting with Christopher Tatum, the supermarket’s assistant deli manager.

“I didn’t want to assume the worst immediately,” Tatum said. “And then I saw customers running and being afraid, as they should have been. And that’s when it started to hit.”

As he tried to move employees and customers out of the store — he went back inside four times, he believed — he picked up Shakti, who had previously testified about falling in the chaos and being unable to get back up.

“She was somebody’s grandma — that’s my main thought,” he said. “And so I picked her up. I wasn’t really concerned about anything else. Was just getting her out.”

Paul Johnson, former head clerk of the Table Mesa King Soopers, recalled trying to “rationalize” the sound of gunshots. He ran from the store.

Mark Suban, scientific and technical photographer for the FBI, explained to the jury that he was instructed to fully document the crime scene and review all camera video from the store and body-worn camera footage. Using these resources, he created an animated map of how the shooter, victims and witnesses moved around as the shooting unfolded. This map was used several times during the trial.

Sarah Cantu, who was a major crimes detective with the Boulder Police Department at the time, walked the jury through a split screen, which showed both Suban’s map and surveillance footage.

Nicholas Edwards, the son of Sarah Moonshadow who had previously testified, briefly spoke about feeling paralyzed before he ran away from the store with his mother.

Bryan Capobianco, police officer with the Boulder Police Department, told the jury about responding to the scene not knowing how many shooters were at the store. He said he saw fellow police Officer Talley on the ground. Talley was one of the 10 victims.

Boulder King Soopers shooting trial: Day 3 begins with more witness testimony

Day four of trial | Sept. 10, 2024

Multiple police officers and other emergency personnel were highlighted on the fourth day of the trial, as well as some other survivors.

King Soopers employee Khagendra “K” Malla, through an interpreter, testified in court that she believed the gunshots were balloons popping. During the shooting, he ran to a shelf, covered himself in crackers and hid until an officer escorted him outside the store. Angela Peacock, a King Soopers employee, hid in the trailer of a semi that had backed up to the store. She said she saw the shooter at one point, and that he “wasn’t spraying bullets everywhere.”

Boulder Police Officer Bryan Plyter said he responded to the scene as soon as he got the call, and arrived to see multiple victims dead on the ground.

“I realized that we lost one of our own, and I made the decision that I was probably going to lose my own life too,” Plyter said after seeing Officer Talley’s body on the ground. “I had made a decision that I was probably going to lose my life going into this store, I thought about my child, that I may never see him again.”

He testified about seeing the shooter in the store, and how the group of officers around him returned fire when the defendant shot at them.

Jenny Schmeits, a fellow Boulder police officer, also said she was not sure she was going to make it home when the shooter opened fire on them. Schmeits said she helped cover two officers as they searched for the shooter and helped victims coming out of the store get to a safe place.

Civil Deputy Jeff Brunkow with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office testified that dispatch believed there were multiple shooters in the store. He recalled seeing a SWAT Team go into the store and come out with the shooter, who had a bloody leg and was in just his underwear.

Officer Richard “DJ” Smith, who has since retired from the Boulder police force, was among the officers who went into the store on the day of the shooting. He remembered how “eerily quiet” it was before the shooter began firing at the officers. Other officers — Alexander Kicera and Boulder Police Department Officer Michael West — also testified about the same experience from their perspective. Brandon Braun, sergeant with CU’s Police Department, was also in this group of officers and recalled hearing gunshots and then felt glass fall on his face.

“It’s affected me tremendously in every aspect of my life and my family’s life… it has affected the way I have responded to things, it has affected my mental health in a lot of ways that I needed to work on, and it made it a difficult decision as well for me to continue to do the job I love to do,” Braun told the court.

Boulder Officer Richard Steidell was the person who shot the defendant. He testified that it “felt like forever” before he realized that one of his return shots had hit him.

Samuel Kilburn, firefighter with the City of Boulder, recalled how several officers moved toward the back of the store to help people fleeing and move them to “relative safety” to another business nearby. While all this was happening, Kilburn said he didn’t know where the shooter was. He went to the roof, where a SWAT team was set up and stayed there for several hours, covering a door. Once he came back down, once the shooter was in custody, he said he wandered the parking lot aimlessly.

When asked about taking the shooter into custody, Sgt. Larry Ottosen, traffic sergeant with the City and County of Broomfield, said he “wasn’t talking to himself, or speaking to someone who wasn’t there, (and) wasn’t fixated on innocuous objects at all.”

Boulder King Soopers shooting trial day 4: Testimony from officers continues

Day five of trial | Sept. 11, 2024

Sarah Cantu, senior investigator with the district attorney’s office, was called to the stand for the second time, after previously testified on day 3 of the trial.

This time around, she explained the evidence that was collected at the scene, which included six 30-round magazines for the Ruger. Those types of magazines are illegal in Colorado. She also listed the firearms that investigators found at the defendant’s home.

Aimee Qulia, who has worked in the firearms unit of the FBI, provided an in-depth analysis for the jury about the bullet holes, impacts and trajectories within the King Soopers.

For the first time, the autopsies of the victims were brought up in the courtroom. Out of respect for the victims and their families, we are not including the details of those reports, but they were presented by Dr. Meredith Frank and Dr. Daniel Lingamfelter.

Four of the victims — Murray, Leiker, Waters, and Fountain — had green tip bullets recovered from their bodies during the autopsy, Frank said. Green tip bullets are designed to pierce steel.

Amber Cronan, special agent with the FBI, testified about her role in searching the defendant’s car, where they found a packing slip from GrabAGun.com, the defendant’s wallet, a green rifle bag in the backseat of the car on the floorboard, and a magazine under the driver’s seat with 29 5.56 rounds. The magazine had huge bullets with small green tips, she recalled. There were more magazines found inside the rifle bag.

Boulder King Soopers shooting trial day 5: Expert testifies on bullet trajectory

Day six of trial | Sept. 12, 2024

On day 6, veteran FBI special agent Stephanie Benitez testified she was one of 30 law enforcement officials who searched the defendant’s home following a search warrant. That search warrant authorized the seizing of body armor, proof of residency, any type of explosives, diaries, journals, photos and weapons.

Photos of items discovered in his house were presented in court which showed various weapons including an AR-style rifle with six magazines, a handgun and various other weapons and accessories. The defense objected to the photo evidence arguing it was gathered from the shooter’s home where multiple other family members lived.Part of Agent Benitez’s role included helping to compile a list of victims for family notifications. Benitez said one way victims were identified was by tallying the number of people who wanted their vehicles returned from the Boulder King Soopers parking lot.

Survivors of the shooting testified, including Jennifer Jacobson – who was witness to the beginning of the tragedy before the suspect went into the store.She said she was only in the store for minutes and left the store at the same time as Kevin Mahoney, one of the victims. She said that Mahoney kept turning around as if wondering why the woman was following him right behind.

Jacobsen said that as both opened their trunks and started unloading groceries, “I smiled at him, he smiled at me, and we both chuckled.” Shortly after, Jacobsen heard a pop, then another “pop pop” before seeing the gunman one row behind where she was parked. She saw the defendant firing shots into a truck which turned out to be a work van driven by Neven Stanisic, the first person who was killed.

She recalled thinking that the gunman was going to shoot Mahoney, looking “very determined and just went walking straight to where I assumed [Mahoney] was returning his cart.”

Fearing the gunman was going to come after her, she put her head down and “thought about my daughter.” Hearing more shots close by, she said she made eye contact with the defendant for a “split second” before shooting victim Tralona Bartkowiak “point blank.”Jacobsen testified she then saw the shooter walk through the automatic doors of the store while she sped off to avoid driving near the windows of the store fearing the shooter could shoot out the windows.As she left the parking lot, she noticed a police patrol unit jump the curb rushing to the scene.

Once home, Jacobsen wrote down as much detail she could remember, including a map, the time and a physical description of the shooter. That paper was entered into evidence in which she described the shooter as “stocky, blue jeans on, huge rifle, it was loud, bullet proof vest, brown short curly hair.”Sarah Chen, a King Soopers pharmacist working at the store the day of the shooting, testified she heard the gunfire and the shooter screaming “this is fun, this is fun, this is such fun.””Next thing I heard was, ‘I surrender! I’m naked, I surrender! Don’t shoot… I’m unarmed, don’t shoot!’” Chen said, adding she remembered getting patted down by officers as they were released from the scene.

On day 6, the jury saw surveillance video from inside the store, including footage near cash registers showing the gunman killing Denny Stong.Stephanie Sears, who works for the United States Postal Inspection Service, took to the stand to testify to her work in preserving, extracting and analyzing digital evidence. Sears testified she found a phone connected to the shooter and later – after a search warrant was obtained – seized 25 other devices.

On the shooter’s phone, Sears told the court that the number of images on the device that appeared to be related to this shooting “was extremely overwhelming.” She said she found approximately 6,000 items related to mass shootings at King Soopers. The shooter also searched online for information on other mass shootings and how to modify a rifle with a rubber band to change the trigger pull. Sears testified that the gunman searched other addresses in Boulder including a Target on Pearl Street, a Whole Food store off Pearl Street and a Safeway on Arapahoe.

Boulder King Soopers shooting trial day 6: Pharmacist recalls shooter screaming, ‘This is suc h fun’

Day seven of trial | Sept. 13, 2024

Prosecutors dug into more of the defendant’s purchase history of weapons on day 7 of the trial. Boulder police detective Sarah Cantu returned to the stand testifying that the shooter purchased 10-round magazines for an assault rifle, magazines, a Ruger AR-556 223 REM, among other items.On day 7, it was revealed he searched “what is the most deadly type of round, bullet” and “are 30-round magazines legal in Colorado?”Detective Cantu said the suspect purchased boxes of green-tip ammo – totaling 80 rounds – and when asked if investigators found any of those rounds at his home – she said all the green-tip ammo was found inside the King Soopers store.

A timeline of the gunman’s movements the day of shooting was revealed in court.The gunman’s mental state was probed in day 7 testimony when Dr. B. Thomas Gray, a board-certified forensic psychologist – who visited the defendant several times at the state hospital – took the stand. He said the shooter did not reveal much information and would isolate by choice, but once he started taking anti-psychotic meds in March 2023, his condition improved.

Gray testified that the defendant said he had auditory hallucinations and that he appeared to show signs of “moderate degree” of suspiciousness in situations, which could be considered delusional paranoia. The defendant refused to talk about the shooting.

More of the shooter’s background and upbringing was revealed including various episodes of isolation and situations in which he thought he was being followed.

Gray testified that the defendant said he heard voices “about once a week” but it escalated to twice a week in the months leading up to the shooting. When Gray asked about the voices, the defendant reportedly did not provide details. The most that doctors learned from the defendant was, “The voices are yelling and screaming.” The psychologist said he could not support the conclusion that the defendant was being directed by the voice of God or delusions.

Gray testified that the presence of the voices showed there was a mental illness, but there was a lack of evidence that the voices or any disturbance in thinking prevented the defendant from knowing right from wrong.

Following more questioning, Gray said he and another doctor opined that the defendant was sane at the time of the shooting, but they also wrote in their report that they were not entirely confident in that opinion. The psychologist said they were confident that the suspect had schizophrenia but they were hesitant about his state of mind due to his inability to provide more information.

Boulder King Soopers shooting trial day 7: Focus on shooter’s mental health

Day eight of trial | Sept. 16, 2024

The week started off with testimony from another prosecution witness – a forensic psychologist – who conducted the sanity evaluation of the defendant.

Dr. Loandra Torres, director of training at the Court Services Department, first met the gunman six months after the shooting and testified she believes he has schizophrenia, but that alone is not sufficient to call someone insane.

Dr. Torres said her investigation found the defendant displayed some “odd behavior” in 2019, including hearing voices and paranoia. Family of the gunman told Torres they sometimes saw him talking and laughing to himself. Two family members also told her the family had been followed by the FBI, but that was not expanded on.It was “hard to know where reality ends and delusion begins” as far as the defendant’s paranoia about being followed, Torres said. She added that the family had no reason to believe he was being followed.

Day eight testimony also focuses on the defendant’s use and lack of use of psychological medication and decline in condition during the early part of 2023.

In March 2023, his treatment team sought a court order to administer involuntary medication. They were able to administer an antipsychotic medication and as a result, the defendant began to engage more and would provide “spontaneous information,” Torres said.

By August of 2023, the defendant’s condition had improved.

Torres told the courtroom that there was a lack of evidence to suggest his mental health symptoms made him incapable of distinguishing what was right and wrong at the time of the shooting, but she could not rule out some sort of psychotic process going on. During her meetings with the defendant, she never heard him say something that came off delusional and could not identify any clear tie between a delusional thought process and the crimes.

In watching a June 2024 video of an interview with the defendant, Torres said she believed he appeared more engaged than previous interviews and provided more details – including buying weapons and practicing using them.

Torres said after watching those interviews, she felt a “little more confident” than before about their opinion that the defendant was sane at the time of the shooting.

Day 8 also saw the first defense witness – Dr. Hareesh Pillai, a psychiatrist at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital. He was the defendant’s primary psychiatric provider while at the hospital in Pueblo and played a role in diagnosing him with schizophrenia.

One of the main symptoms he noticed in their first meeting was “thought blocking” — an interruption to normal flow of thought, such as when somebody stops talking mid-sentence. He also recalled noticing that the defendant appeared to respond to internal stimuli, and often looked over his shoulder like he was hearing something behind him that Pillai did not hear.

Pillai said despite the antipsychotic medication, the defendant still had some symptoms, but there was an improvement compared to their first meeting in December 2021.

And while the defendant refused mental health medications, through a court order, he has been on meds ever since.Pillai said after three years, the defendant still does not believe he has schizophrenia most of the time, though he has said once or twice that he has the illness. Pillai said the defendant’s judgment is so poor that if he stopped taking medication, that brief insight would disappear.

Pillai was not asked to conduct a sanity evaluation.

The defense then called the defendant’s mother to the stand – who, while testifying through an interpreter – said her son was a cute, smart child before he started “changing” in 2019. She claimed that he believed people were chasing him and that he had grown paranoid about being watched.

The day before the shooting, the family celebrated Mother’s Day, which was a holiday in Syria – where the family is from. On the day of the shooting, she said she had breakfast with her son and told him to shave and get a haircut. That was the last time she saw her son before testifying in court.

As packages were delivered to the family home in the months before the shooting – she was asked by prosecutors if she knew what her son was up to. “We didn’t know what he was up to,” Alhidid said, thinking the boxes might have contained a musical instrument.

Prosecutors pushed back asking if Alhidid previously told investigators that she heard a banging noise upstairs, and that the defendant’s brothers had gone to check on him and they brought down a rifle. Alhidid said she did recall that, and said her son had a round jammed in the firearm.

She said the defendant was going to return the firearm the following day. Continue reading to learn more about what happened on day eight.

Boulder King Soopers shooting trial day 8: Prosecution rests

Day nine of trial | Sept. 17, 2024

Despite obvious signs of the gunman’s mental instability in the years leading up to the 2021 mass shooting, the defendant’s father testified that he didn’t seek mental health treatment for his son because of the possible harm to the family’s reputation.

Moustafa Alissa, the Syrian-born father of the 25-year-old defendant, took the stand on Day 9 of the trial and told the jury his son’s mental health began to deteriorate soon after he graduated high school. Still, Alissa said the family didn’t seek treatment for his son to protect his family’s reputation amid cultural pressures.

“It’s shameful in our culture to say our son’s crazy, and also, we were thinking he was probably possessed by a spirit,” Alissa said through an interpreter.

The father recalled an incident at his home about two to three days before the King Soopers shooting where he encountered the gunman with a machine gun that apparently had jammed, and the defendant was banging it on the floor to try to get it unjammed. But he testified he knew nothing about any other weapons the defendant had and believed his son was harmless.

“We knew he was sick. He had something wrong, but we don’t know what it was,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Michelle Colarelli, who treated the shooter at the state hospital, testified that the defendant was responding well to medication and opened up to her a little more about his actions in the days just before the mass shooting.

When asked if the gunman had been thinking about committing the offense a month before March 22, 2021, Dr. Colarelli responded by saying, “Yes.’

She also testified that the defendant explained that he had to drive to the site from Arvada and estimated it would take him 30 minutes to get there. The defendant also indicated that he had visited the site of the attack two days before the shooting.

Boulder King Soopers shooting trial day 9: Dad feared harm to family’s reputation if shooter sought treatment

Day ten of trial | Sept. 18, 2024

Day 10 testimony in the Boulder King Soopers shooting trial revealed significant changes in the defendant’s behavior, as described by his brother. The defendant became withdrawn, forgetful, and emotionless after high school, raising concerns about his mental health.

An assistant professor in psychology at University of Colorado, Dr. Ahmad Adi, testified next.

He highlighted the stigma around mental illness in Middle Eastern cultures, which may have influenced the family’s perception and handling of the defendant’s condition.

The defense then brought Dr. Joshua Hatfield to the stand. He met with the defendant immediately following the shooting.

Dr. Hatfield diagnosed the defendant with schizophrenia based on his observations and family records but noted the defendant never provided a motive for the shooting.

Dr. Hatfield testified the defendant “consistently denied having psychotic symptoms” and, in an August 24, 2021 meeting, allegedly talked about hearing voices and “all he would say is that it was just yelling.”

Dr. Ian Lamoureux, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that he reviewed extensive records and videos, concluding that the defendant had schizophrenia in partial remission but could still distinguish right from wrong.

Dr. Lamoureux found no evidence of auditory hallucinations during the shooting and believed the defendant’s actions showed planning and intent after reviewing footage from King Soopers.

“It was quite remarkable just how focused and fixated he was on carrying out the shooting,” he said.

He emphasized that schizophrenia does not automatically impair one’s ability to understand right from wrong and noted the defendant’s behavior indicated he was sane at the time of the shooting.

Watch the full verdict in the video player below:

Boulder King Soopers gunman guilty on all counts: Full verdict, analysis

Editor’s note: Denver7 has chosen to not include the defendant’s name in our coverage of the trial. This trial aims to determine if the defendant was insane or not at the time of the shooting, not if he shot and killed people at the King Soopers, which the defense is not contesting. Therefore, we have removed words such as “alleged” and “suspected” from our trial coverage when referring to him.

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — The jury trial is underway to determine if a defendant accused of shooting and killing 10 people at a King Soopers store in Boulder on March 22, 2021 was insane at the time of the shooting.

The defendant was arrested the same day as the mass shooting, but the case was stalled by several competency hearings. He was found competent to stand trial in August 2023 and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity three months later. He faces a slew of charges, including 10 counts of first-degree murder, 47 counts of attempted murder, first-degree assault, and six counts of using a large-capacity magazine in a crime, plus multiple crimes of violence.

The attempted murder counts are according to the latest court documents filed online.

The 10 people who lost their lives that day were Suzanne Fountain, Rikki Olds, Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, Jody Waters, Denny Stong, Tralona Bartkowiak, Neven Stanisic, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray and Teri Leiker. Read more about them here.

Opening statements began on the morning of Sept. 5. Denver7 will follow each day of this trial. Read the latest below.

Denver7’s Coverage of the Boulder King Soopers Shooting

Thursday, Sept. 5

About three and a half years after 10 people were shot and killed at a Boulder King Soopers, the trial for the defendant began on Thursday morning in Boulder County. Judge Ingrid Bakke will oversee the proceedings.

Sitting in the packed rows of the courtroom are Erika Mahoney and Olivia Mackenzie. The two women have found strength and comfort within each other, sharing a bond that’s difficult to comprehend.

Erika’s father, Kevin Mahoney, went to the King Soopers off Table Mesa frequently. He was shot four times and killed while returning his grocery cart in the parking lot. 

“My dad was my protector, and I always wish I could have protected him, but I just know that he must have felt so bad in that moment, so vulnerable,” Erika said outside of the courthouse on Thursday. “I see my dad’s photo, and I still feel like he’s alive. I still feel like I could go call him after this.”

Olivia’s mother, Lynn Murray, was picking up groceries while working as an Instacart driver. Prosecutors said Murray fought hard to live, but said the shooter was intent on killing her. She was also shot four times.

“When you hear that they ran, you almost think like there’s a chance they could get away still,” said Olivia. “I almost like want to encourage her to keep running.” 

The two have been counting down the days until the trial – but, nothing could prepare them for walking into that courtroom on Thursday.
 
“We’ve never done this before – stepping into the unknown yet again,” Erika said. “Wanting to be a voice for our parents, but also wanting to protect ourselves is a really hard balance.”

Erika said when she first saw the jurors, who are predominantly female, she felt like crying. She understands the jury is taking on a heavy trial filled with responsibility.

The two women are not seeking any kind of comfort from the judicial system. 

“It was so shocking and we didn’t get the chance to say goodbye,” Erika said. “I will never feel closure.”

The defendant walked into the courtroom Thursday wearing a white button-down shirt and glasses. He is represented by Kathryn Herold and Sam Dunn.

Michael Dougherty, district attorney for the 20th Judicial District, began the day with his opening statements in front of the jury.

He described the King Soopers as a place where people are constantly moving around — walking up and down the aisles and around the parking lot. He listed out multiple businesses nearby, also bustling with customers.

“It is a regular, normal day in beautiful and idyllic Boulder, Colorado, and that peace is about to be destroyed,” Dougherty said.

Watch our coverage from day one of the jury trail in the video below.

Opening statements begin in King Soopers shooting trial

The day of the shooting, Monday, March 22, 2021, around 2:25 p.m., customers were stocking up for the week with food. The shooter — who drove to the store from Arvada with a rifle bag, loaded assault rifle, ammunition and carrier vest — was sitting in a black car in the parking lot, Dougherty said.

“He went there to kill as many people as he possibly could on that day,” he said. “The people inside the supermarket have no idea what’s about to happen… The victims were completely random. But the murders were absolutely planned, deliberate and intentional.”

Each one of the 10 people killed had family, loved ones, careers and dreams, he said. They went to King Soopers thinking about what they would make for dinner and who they would eat with — “a loved one they would never see again because they were about to be gunned down inside a supermarket and out in the parking lot, a place where they all felt safe,” the district attorney said.

He tried to kill 25 other people, Dougherty said, forever impacting many lives that day.

Dougherty then listed the victims and briefly described their lives and deaths:

• Neven Stanisic, 23. He was part of a close immigrant family that had moved to the United States for a better life. He had just fixed an espresso machine inside the King Soopers. At 2:27 p.m., he was talking with a coworker about his next work site. Within two minutes of that call, he would die.
• Kevin Mahoney, 61. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather. He visited this supermarket often. He had a funny exchange with another customer who had parked next to him. They both started loading their cars, laughing with each other. Mahoney went to return his cart. He was killed a few minutes later.
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49. She owned a clothing store on Pearl Street. She had her window down as she drove through the King Soopers parking lot, which is likely how she heard the first shots.
• Rikki Olds, 25. She worked at the King Soopers as a head clerk. Her family, as well as her friends and colleagues at the store, loved her. At the time of the shooting, she was working in the pharmacy and customer service area helping people. The shooter would come in the doors in that same area.
• Denny Strong, 20. Stong worked at the King Soopers, but was off from work on that day. He stopped at the store to grab lunch. His mom, who also worked at the store, was on her lunch break and eating in the car when her son was killed.
• Lynn Murray, 62. She was a loving mother who worked for Instacart — a grocery delivery service that became very popular amid the pandemic and still was at this time. She was at the store that day to shop for others who were unable to shop for themselves. She was checking out when she was killed.
• Teri Leiker, 51. She overcame significant challenges and had worked at the King Soopers for many years. She was a beloved fixture there. She was bagging groceries for a man when she was shot and killed.
• Jody Waters, 65. She had a great impact on the world and has a loving family. When the shooting began, she hid under a checkout stand.
• Suzanne Fountain, 59. She lived in Broomfield and frequented a hair salon in the Table Mesa shopping center. She had gone there that day. Because she was already in that area, she went to the Table Mesa King Soopers to shop for groceries.
• Eric Talley, 51. He became a police officer as a second career and loved serving the community. When he got the call about the shooting, he raced to the scene and because of him, many people are alive today.

Dougherty reminded the jury that they were in the courtroom because the person who killed those 10 people was in the same room, and he pointed to the defendant.

Chet Strange/AP

“He asserted he is not guilty by reason of insanity,” he said. “…Was the defendant so diseased or defective of mind that he was incapable of distinguishing right from wrong with respect to the murder of 10 individuals and the attempted murder of 25 more? Or suffering from a condition of mind caused by mental disease or defect, as the statue reads, that prevented him from forming a culpable mental state? And in this case, it’s going to be intent. That’s what this case is going to come down to.”

The central issue is the defendant’s claim of being not guilty by reason of insanity, he said, clarifying that mental illness does not mean somebody is insane. Dougherty said if the jury applies the law and looks at the evidence, “you will reach the right decision in this case.”

He then began to go through some of the evidence that would be presented in more depth later in the trial, warning that it is “brutal and horrific and emotional.”

“How he carried out the shooting on March 22 will tell you a lot about his ability for intent,” Dougherty said. “How he did what he did, on that day, in that moment, will help answer the question for you of was he able to form intent.”

Dougherty walked through more details of how the shooter killed Stanisic outside the store, then Mahoney in the parking lot and Bartkowiak on the pedestrian ramp to the supermarket. Olds and Stong moved toward the east doors of the store, seemingly unsure what the sounds were, Dougherty said, adding that others thought the sound was construction on the roof. The defendant killed Olds — the only person shot just once — before following Stong and shooting him multiple times, Dougherty said.

The defendant realized his magazine was empty and popped in another one, he said.

“Not a moment of delay,” Dougherty said. “He was ready, he was prepared. He had practiced, he had planned for this.”

At this point, people in the store were screaming, “Active shooter,” he said, and people were running and hiding. The defendant saw Murray and closed in, shooting her four times. Leiker, who initially ducked, stood up when the defendant neared and shot her.

After missing two other people, the defendant saw Waters hiding under the checkout counter and pointed his assault rifle at her.

“You’ll have to answer the question at the end: Could the defendant form the intent to kill Jody Waters? When he lifted up his rifle and pointed it at her, right here, could he form the intent to kill Jody Waters?” the district attorney asked.

In court, he showed a snapshot of the moment before the defendant fired four times at her. The courtroom was able to see Waters hiding underneath the checkout counter, and the defendant standing over her.

“These eight lives were taken in 68 seconds,” Dougherty said.

During the shooting, the defendant came across a 90-year-old man shopping, walking slowly and holding onto his cart for balance. He had assumed the noises were coming from the roof. The defendant dropped his gun at his side and walked away to find other people, Dougherty said. They encountered each other one additional time in the store, and the defendant again ignored him.

“What does this tell you?” Dougherty said. “This will tell you that the defendant was intentionally targeting people who were in fear, who were running, who he had power over, who he was scaring, and who he could chase and kill.”

Boulder King Soopers Shooting

These are the 10 victims of the Boulder King Soopers shooting

At this point, the store was quiet because people were trying to stay concealed.

The defendant then found Fountain, who had been hiding and made a break for it. He shot her three times, and continued hunting, Dougherty said.

Fourteen of the attempted murder victims will testify, and Dougherty previewed a few of their stories: One man who played dead for an hour. Another who pulled a muscle running for his life and hiding in the snow. A mother and son in the store who tried to count the bullets to guess when the shooter would need to reload so they could escape.

Police then started arriving, as people had called 911 to report the shooting. Dispatchers sent the information — callers guessed one to three active shooters — to all emergency personnel in Boulder County.

Police from Denver, Lakewood, Golden, Arvada, Westminster, Broomfield, Jefferson County SWAT, and many other agencies all responded. That included Talley, a Boulder police officer. Dougherty showed a clip of him speeding to the scene, weaving in and out of traffic.

“Because Officer Talley and other Boulder police officers got there as fast as they did, no other civilians were injured or killed that day,” Dougherty said. “But Officer Talley sacrificed his life in that response.”

The district attorney said the defendant heard the officers’ radios at the store and prepared to ambush them. He then shot Talley in the head.

Boulder King Soopers Shooting

Police use officer Eric Talley’s handcuffs to arrest Boulder shooting suspect

As more law enforcement arrived, the defendant moved to the back of the store.

“What he has done is beyond wrong, and he knows it,” Dougherty said. “And he knows police are there in response to what he has done. He’s distinguishing between wrong and right.”

The shooter then opened fire on the officers, Dougherty said, before a police officer shot him in the leg. The defendant stumbled around a bit. Boulder police used a loudspeaker from outside the store to demand that he surrender. Still inside the store, the defendant put down his firearms and ammunition, took off his clothes except for his underwear and put his hands up, ultimately surrendering and saying, “I surrender, I give up.” The district attorney again stressed that this showed the defendant knew the difference between right and wrong.

Police gave the shooter several commands, which he complied with, with no confusion. Other officers then began guiding the hiding survivors out of the store.

During his opening statement, Dougherty showed an animation in court multiple times — created with the help of the FBI and district attorney’s office — that showed how both the murder and attempted murder victims moved, where the murder victims died and where the defendant traveled.

Nearly everything that the defendant chose to do that day was captured on video, which would alone prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the district attorney said.

“Could he form intent? Yes. Could he tell the difference between right and wrong? Yes,” Dougherty said.

The defendant never went to a doctor for his mental health before the shooting. After his arrest, every doctor the defendant saw confirmed that he had a mental illness, and authorities learned he had been struggling with it prior to the shooting.

“You’re going to hear during the course of the trial that the defendant has been examined by a bunch of different doctors. They determined the defendant has a mental illness, but it comes nowhere close to legally insane,” Dougherty said.

Boulder King Soopers Shooting

King Soopers shooting suspect ordered to undergo competency evaluation

They opined that he had schizophrenia, he said, adding that millions of other people in the world do too. The defendant refused medication and treatment, or to talk about what had happened inside the King Soopers.

When the defendant entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, Judge Bakke ordered a state evaluation. Two doctors — who will testify in the trial — were able to determine that the defendant was sane on the day of the shooting. An outside expert, brought in by the prosecution, arrived at the same conclusion.

Dougherty outlined evidence of the defendant’s planning: searching online for information on 30-round magazines and the deadliest type of round or bullet, and purchasing an optic sight. He researched other mass shootings, as well as more than 6,000 images of guns, ammunition and equipment, and 400 images of bomb-making materials. Then he began purchasing items — guns, ammunition, equipment and bomb-making materials — which were found on his person, in his car outside the store and at his house. Dougherty added that he targeted Boulder.

The defendant allegedly planned the shooting for at least two months prior to March 22, 2021.

This trial will last two and a half weeks, he said, and the prosecution will call 60 witnesses. He told the jury that the court will not show any photos of the victims on the ground or their autopsies.

“It’s going to allow us, as the prosecution, as the people, to show you what you need but not every ounce of horror the defendant inflicted upon the world that day,” he said.

At the conclusion of the district attorney’s opening statements, the court took a brief break and then defense attorney Sam Dunn took to the stand for his opening statements.

“Over the next few weeks, this case is going to envelop you in the suffering and grief — those who lost their lives on March 22, 2021, those who survived, and those who lost loved ones and co-workers, because of the actions of my client,” he began.

During the defendant’s late teenage years, he began exhibiting signs that were the onset of schizophrenia, Dunn said. He became paranoid, had auditory hallucinations, namely screaming voices in his head, and socially withdrew. Those symptoms went untreated.

He stressed that the defense is not arguing that the person who killed the 10 people is not the defendant. The law in this matter is simple, he said, and the jury’s responsibility is to determine if the defendant could distinguish right from wrong — if he was legally sane or insane at the time of the shooting.

The law reads that a person can have intent and be insane at the same time, he said.

“The law in Colorado says that you can understand what you’re doing is illegal and you can be insane,” he further explained.

The defendant had a severe case of schizophrenia, which came with a “constellation of symptoms” leading up to and present on March 22, 2021, Dunn said. As of that day, he had never been treated for schizophrenia, and had never seen a doctor for a treatment plan. On that March day, he was in the “throes of a psychotic episode,” Dunn said.

Boulder King Soopers Shooting

State finds Boulder King Soopers suspect competent to stand trial

In a video played in court, a doctor involved in the sanity evaluations was heard asking the defendant earlier in 2024, “You said voices are what caused or resulted in you conducting a mass shooting?” He responds, “The consistent voices made me commit the mass shooting.”

The jury will hear evidence about the defendant’s ability to determine right from wrong, Dunn said, and it will show that his illness influenced his behavior and thinking that day.

He was arrested immediately after the shooting, and since December 2021, has been a patient at a state mental health hospital, where he underwent treatment and took medication for severe and treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

“We’re here three and a half years later because of (the defendant’s) illness,” Dunn said.

Illnesses run a spectrum, and the defendant has a severe form, he said. Therapy alone would not work, and certain symptoms can persist even with medication. But once they tried a certain medication, the defendant began to speak more and his thinking became more organized at the state hospital, Dunn said.

“(The defendant) was insane when he committed this mass shooting,” he said, adding that the King Soopers shooting happened because he had untreated schizophrenia and because the screaming voices in his head told him to commit the crime.

In addition, he was delusional and paranoid, and his reality was not the reality of the world, Dunn said.

“The root cause of this was his disease,” he said near the end of his opening statements. “After hearing that, you will be asked to apply your common sense and apply to the law and each of you individually will be asked to render the verdict.”

Returning the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity acknowledges that the defendant committed the shooting, but was not sane at the time, he said.

“That will ensure that a further injustice is not done,” Dunn said.

That concluded the defense’s opening statements.

---

Following the first lunch break of the trial, prosecutors began calling witnesses to the stand.

The witnesses on the first afternoon consisted of individuals who either worked at the King Soopers, or were nearby or shopping at the grocery store.

The first witness was Jesse Brown, who had gone to King Soopers on that Monday afternoon in March of 2021. Brown was backing into a parking spot when he heard a loud boom. It wasn’t until the second boom that he recognized the noises as gunshots.

Brown described seeing a man approach a white van in the parking lot, holding up a rifle to the driver’s window, and pulling the trigger twice. Brown panicked and put his car in drive, proceeding to leave the parking lot as fast as he could, while yelling “active shooter” at the top of his lungs.

On the stand, Brown told prosecutors it appeared the defendant was familiar with the rifle.

Brown also memorized as many details as he could about the suspect before calling 911 and relaying that information to dispatch.

The next witness was Johnnie Lee Schan, who was on the phone with Neven Stanisic — the first victim of the shooting. Stanisic was shot while sitting inside his van in the parking lot.

Schan described Stanisic as a “good kid more than anything” who always answered his phone calls. They were on a phone call when Stanisic was shot. Schan heard the booms, but thought Stanisic may have dropped a tool. He was not sure what was happening.

Schan called Stanisic several times, but never heard back from his friend and colleague.

Another witness called on the first day of the trial was Kelly Door, who worked as a meat market manager for King Soopers. He was working on the day of the mass shooting. Door was in the process of buying a bagel when he heard the first shot echo throughout the grocery store.

He initially thought the gunshots may have come from people in the parking lot, but then saw the shooter. He felt as though he had “forever” to consider his next move. He tried to count the gunshots, but stopped after he heard six.

Eventually, Door sought shelter near his car in the parking lot, where he would remain for hours that day.

Several other witnesses took the stand on Thursday, many testifying about their experiences at the grocery store during the shooting, and giving the jury an idea of what happened that day from a variety of perspectives.

Witness testimony resumes on Friday at 9 a.m.