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King Soopers shooter found guilty of 55 counts
A jury has found a Colorado guilty on all counts in the 2021 King Soopers supermarket shooting in Boulder. Ahmad Al-Lissa was convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of first-degree attempted murder, one count of assault in the first degree and six counts of possessing a large-capacity magazine.
BOULDER, Colo. - A man who killed 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 was sentenced Monday to life in prison for murder following the jury’s rejection of his attempt to avoid prison time by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.
Ahmad Alissa was convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of first-degree attempted murder, one count of assault in the first degree and six counts of possessing a large-capacity magazine.
Judge Ingrid Bakke sentenced him to 10 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Defense attorneys did not dispute that Alissa, who has schizophrenia, fatally shot 10 people including a police officer. But the defense argued he was insane at the time of the attack and couldn’t tell right from wrong.
Ahmad Alissa appears before Boulder District Court Judge Thomas Mulvahill at the Boulder County Justice Center in Boulder, Colorado on March 25, 2021. (Credit: Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
"This was not about mental illness. This was about brutal, intentional violence," District Attorney Michael Dougherty said.
The courtroom was packed largely with victims’ families and police officers, including those who were shot at by Alissa. Several members of Alissa’s family sat just behind him.
10 killed in Boulder King Soopers shooting
On March 22, 2021, 10 people were killed, including one police officer who was the first to respond to the scene, in a shooting at a King Soopers grocery store. Police said the then-21-year-old suspect has been detained and charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.
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Hundreds of police officers from throughout the Denver metropolitan area responded to the attack. SWAT officers carrying ballistic shields slowly approached the store as others quickly escorted frightened people away from the building, some of its windows shattered. Customers and employees fled through a back loading dock to safety. Others took refuge in nearby shops.
Police engaged in a shootout with the suspect inside the supermarket, which is when an officer who responded to the scene was killed — later identified as 51-year-old Eric Talley.