Ahmad Alissa researched bomb-making materials, guns, previous mass shootings and "how to clear a hallway withot being shot" two months before he allegedly killed 10 people in a Boulder King Soopers.
That's according to Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty, who revealed for the first time the extent of Alissa’s planning and preparation during opening statements of the murder trial Thursday in Boulder County.
“He lives and works in Arvada and 'Boulder' shows up on his phone more and more and more. He pulled into the first big place that he comes across on March 22,” Dougherty said.
Alissa drove from his home in Arvada, which was captured on a neighbor’s doorbell camera, turned on to Highway 93 and then took a left at the Table Mesa Shopping Center. He first drove by the Chase Bank and King Soopers grocery store to the nearby neighborhood and then turned his black Mercedes around, according to Dougherty.
The prosecutor used the urgency apparent in slain Boulder Police Ofc. Eric Talley’s dash cam, photos of all 10 victims, 911 calls, and a color-coded animated screen showing Alissa’s movements. Alissa, a purple dot on the screen, walked through the store’s east doors toward the victims who faced possible death and those who didn’t make it.
He shot three people in the parking lot in just 38 seconds, and then spent the next 68 seconds hunting and killing seven more, the prosecutor said.
Defense attorneys plan to argue that Alissa was suffering from mental illness, and, thus, not capable of telling right from wrong.
"This happened because Mr. Alissa had untreated schizophrenia and screaming voices told him to commit a mass shooting," Samuel Dunn, of the Colorado Public Defender's Office, told jurors Thursday morning during his opening statement.
Alissa, in a striped button-down shirt, full beard and glasses, listened to Dougherty's nearly two-hour opening statements while sipping from a Starbucks cup. He appeared uncomfortable, often toying with his beard. He twisted and shifted in his seat, looking to see a screen shot himself aiming at victims on a large monitor directly to his right.
“He is moving fast and he is brutal,” said Dougherty, describing the 25-year-old's movements.
Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and his attorneys have acknowledged that he was the shooter who killed the people in the store at 3600 Table Mesa Drive in March of 2021.
What is the most important question for the 16-person jury from a prosecution standpoint? Dougherty asked.
"The victims are random but the shootings were deliberate and intentional,” Dougherty said.
The burden will fall to prosecutors to prove not only that the defendant committed the crimes but that he was not insane when he did — that he knew the difference between right and wrong and did not have a mental illness that prevented him from forming a culpable mental state.
Alissa is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder after deliberation — meaning that he thought about and intended to cause the deaths. That's in addition to the 45 others charges he faces.
'Screaming voices between his ears'
Defense attorney Dunn showed the jury a video snippet of Alissa, at an empty table in a blue sweatshirt, during a doctor's evaluation.
"What came to your head from the yelling?" the doctor asked.
"Just consistent voices," he answered.
Alissa lived an isolated existence as a severe case of schizophrenia brought hallucinations and "screaming voices between his ears," Dunn said during nearly an hour of his opening statement.
"Not just March 22, but in the years and months preceding them," Dunn said. "His symptoms were left untreated."
As to his client's research into guns, bombs and prior mass shootings, Nunn pointed out that Colorado law stipulates that a person can have intent and still be insane.
One night, Alissa's father found him on the couch downstairs at 3 a.m. talking about a little man in the corner of the bathroom.
His father, an Arab-American who operated under a different culture, thought that his son was possessed by demons, Dunn said.
"You have an individual that sadly wasn’t seen for what was going on inside his head."
From March 2021 until December of that year, he was left in the jail isolated and untreated, Dunn told the jury, "after gunning people down." He's now taking Clozapine, one of the strongest antipsychotic medications for treating scizophrenia.
The criminal case stalled for more than three years after multiple doctors reported that Alissa was not mentally competent to stand trial — meaning he could not understand the proceedings and assist in his own defense.
After treatment and medication, the judge ruled in the fall of 2023 that his competency had been restored and he was capable of aiding in his defense at trial.
First eyewitnesses
The first witnesses to testify in the trial were the eyewitnesses to Alissa's movements at around 2:29 p.m. that Monday afternoon.
The shooting was so unexpected, none of them realized that the booms they first heard were gunshots.
Jessie Brown, on an errand for paper towels, had just backed into a parking spot west of the main entrance when he heard a boom. He next watched as the defendant get out of his car and aim at the service van next to him.
Brown said the defendant shot "at point blank range" through the driver's side window of the van, exploding the glass.
The victim, Neven Stanisic, was on the phone with work. He had just serviced the Starbucks Espresso machine.
"What the f---?" were his last words.
Stanisic, 23, was the first of the 10 people murdered that day .
Other witnesses included the King Soopers meat manager, an ER doctor who stopped into the store to pick up dinner and Logan Smith, a barista at the store's Starbucks.
Smith was touched more than most by the victims. He happened to spend time with the first victim, Stanisic. He then made his friend, victim Denny Stong, a caramel macchiato.
Stong, who was a King Soopers employee, wasn't working, but stopped by that day because he liked the way Smith made his coffee. Smith also knew victims Rikki Olds and Teri Leiker, a beloved bagger.
He called 911 just before Olds was hit by one bullet and fell to the ground. Multiple gunshots could be heard on the recording, but he said he counted 25 bangs.
"I wasn't shaking or panicking. The adrenaline stabilized me," he said.
He spent the next 52 minutes hiding behind trash cans until a police K9 dog found him.
"I could smell what he last ate," he said.
One of the most perplexing questions in the 2021 Boulder King Soopers mass shooting is that a motive was never established. Dunn pointed to the prosecution table.
“If they could tell you why he did it they would. They can’t because the 'why' is insanity,” said Dunn. “The motive and the why is insanity.”
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