Colorado mass shooting suspect pleads insanity
BOULDER — The defendant in a 2021 mass shooting at a Colorado supermarket pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Tuesday, as a judge ruled that the case can move to trial following testimony that the suspect killed eight of his 10 victims in just over a minute using a gun with a high-capacity magazine.
Attorneys for Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa entered the plea on his behalf before District Court Judge Ingrid Bakke in Boulder. Clad in an orange and white striped jail uniform, Alissa looked down in court and at times at the judge as she advised him of his rights.
A plea of not guilty by reason of insanity means defense lawyers are asserting that mental illness prevented Alissa from distinguishing right from wrong. If successful, it could allow Alissa to avoid prison and instead be committed indefinitely to a state mental hospital.
Alissa is charged with 10 counts of murder, 15 counts of attempted murder, and other offenses. Neither his lawyers nor anyone else has disputed that he was the gunman.
Tuesday’s hearing was held to decide if there was enough evidence for Alissa, who has schizophrenia, to go on trial in the March 22, 2021, shooting at a crowded King Soopers store in Boulder, about 30 miles northwest of Denver.
Bakke ruled after Boulder Police Detective Sarah Cantu described how the gunman began firing as soon as he got out of his car at the supermarket. Cantu said Alissa targeted individuals who were moving and continued firing at them until they were dead, killing most of his victims within 70 seconds.
“He found moving targets, pursued them, and shot them until they stopped moving,” Cantu said as prosecutors laid out their case.
Alissa was recently deemed competent to stand trial in the shootings after being forcibly medicated so that he could understand the proceedings.
He’s accused of killing nine shoppers and workers inside and outside the store as well as Officer Eric Talley, a father of seven and one of the first three police officers who entered the store.