Suspect in Colorado grocery store killings held without bail

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, the suspected gunman in this week’s mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, will be held without bail, judge Thomas Mulvahill ruled Thursday.

Alissa’s lawyers asked to delay the next status hearing in the case for two to three months, saying “we cannot do anything until we are able to fully assess Mr. Alissa’s mental illness.”

“We cannot begin to assess the nature and depth of Mr. Alissa’s mental illness until we have the discovery from the government,” Kathryn Herold, one of his attorneys, said to Mulvahill. Herold, an attorney with the Colorado Public Defender’s Office, offered no additional details.

The judge granted the request and called for a recess after roughly six minutes. Alissa did not enter a plea, but will do so later in the judicial process. The 21-yearold from Arvada, Colorado, has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder in the shootings at a King Soopers grocery store.

According to the criminal complaint obtained by The Washington Post, authorities confirmed the attempted first-degree murder charge comes from an alleged attack on Boulder police officer Richard Steidell. Among the 10 people killed was Steidell’s colleague, Eric Talley, 51.

Alissa’s appearance in Boulder County court was the first time he had been seen in public since police arrested him outside the store, stripped to his shorts and with blood from a gunshot wound running down one leg.

After entering the courtroom in a wheelchair shortly after 8 a.m. local time, Alissa spoke just once during his first appearance, acknowledging to Mulvahill that he understood he would be held in custody without bail.

The Boulder County district attorney’s office said in a news release that “additional charges would be filed in the weeks ahead.”

Authorities found this week that Alissa purchased an Ar-15-style weapon days before the shooting. The firearm would have fallen under an assault weapons ban that was recently overturned by a judge.

The shooting has renewed calls for a ban on assault weapons, with President Joe Biden joining Colorado leaders in calling on Congress to act after the second mass shooting in a week.

HELEN H. RICHARDSON/THE DENVER POST VIA AP Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, appears before a judge on Thursday, three days after he was led away in handcuffs from a Boulder, Colo., supermarket where 10 people were fatally shot.