Suspect to face more charges
Finding out motive remains a priority, police chief says
More charges of attempted first-degree murder “will be filed in the very near future” against the suspect who police say fatally shot 10 people at a Boulder King Soopers this week, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty announced Friday.
The plan to file additional counts — for firing on responding police officers, Dougherty said — comes as police investigators continue to search for a motive that so far has proved elusive.
“Like the rest of the community, we too want to know why,” Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said at a news conference. “Why Boulder? Why Monday? Unfortunately, at this time, we still don’t have those answers.”
The chief said determining motive remains a primary focus of the probe. “It will be something haunting for all of us until we figure that out.”
Dougherty said the suspect, 21year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa of Arvada, had with him a 9 mm handgun in addition to the Ruger AR-556 pistol police say he used in his fatal attack at the grocery store Monday afternoon.
Herold confirmed that the AR556 was used in the shooting and that it had been purchased legally by the suspect from an Arvada gun store. Dougherty said it is “not believed” the handgun was used during the shooting.
Alissa on Thursday was charged with 10 counts of first-de
gree murder and a single count of attempted first-degree murder. His next court date likely will be announced next week, Dougherty said, and the legal process to deal with the case will be “lengthy.”
Thursday night, Boulder County sheriff’s officials confirmed they had moved Alissa to a correctional facility in a different county
“due to safety concerns and threats that our jail staff became aware of.”
The new attempted-murder charges will stem from the suspect allegedly firing on responding Boulder and University of Colorado police officers, who upon entering the store “immediately faced a very significant amount of gunfire from the shooter,” Dougherty said.
“Immediately after responding, they charged into the store,” the district attorney said. “Their actions saved others — other civilians — from being killed.”
Alissa was shot in the leg during the incident, and a police officer was placed on administrative leave per department policy, Dougherty said.
He said authorities know how many rounds the shooter fired but aren’t ready to disclose that information yet. Investigators have been clearing the shelves of the grocery store to look for bullets, shell casings and other forensic evidence and will continue doing so this weekend, he said.
Herold said she did a walkthrough of the crime scene on Thursday and described it as the most complex one she has seen in her career. So far the investigation has involved 167 law enforcement officials from 26 federal, state and local agencies.
More than 3,000 hours of work has been put in, with investigators processing 223 tips and interviewing 156 people. Around 20 digital media devices have been collected so far as part of the probe, Boulder police said.
Dougherty said the investigation is “progressing rapidly” and he also emphasized Friday that determining the motive for the mass shooting is paramount.
“I think the victims’ families and the community are desperate to know the motive. We want to know the motive, and that’s going to be the focus of all our efforts going forward,” Dougherty said.