Focus on mental health, 3 years after tragedy

A silence fell over a Boulder courtroom as the three-year-long trial in the King Soopers mass shooting finally began.

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was the sole shooter in a series of killings that left 10 people dead on March 22, 2021: Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; Rikki Olds, 25; Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Boulder police officer Eric Talley, 51; Teri Leiker, 51; and Jody Waters, 65. Alissa is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, as well as numerous counts of attempted murder, assault, and weapons offenses.

This trial will focus not on establishing guilt, but on the role of Alissa’s mental health in establishing his legal liability.

Read: BRL’s updated, live coverage of the study starting August 26, 2024.

Alissa was brought into the courtroom on Thursday morning, Sept. 4, by two officers who seemed to diminish his already short but stocky appearance. Dressed in a striped button-down shirt and small black plastic-rimmed glasses, Alissa exuded a restless energy. He glanced around the room, his eyebrows twitching up and down seemingly uncontrollably, he tugged at his beard, swiveled his chair and spoke quietly to his team.

Alissa is not your average defendant. Doctors agree he has a severe case of “treatment-resistant” schizophrenia, which his lawyer says has caused paranoid delusions, auditory hallucinations and other symptoms. In his opening statement, silent defense attorney Sam Dunn introduced a video clip of Alissa during one of his insanity evaluations earlier this year. Alissa tilted his head to look at a large screen on the wall above him. From behind his balding head, he seemed to be part of the audience, curiously watching the man on camera, referring to the voices in his head. At one point, the witness was asked to tell us if Mr. Alissa was in the courtroom. The witness pointed to and described Alissa’s shirt, and Alissa glanced down at himself, as if to see if the witness was describing him.

The trial is taking place at the Boulder County Courthouse. Author: Jenna Sampson.

The trial was officially opened by District Attorney Michael Dougherty. He used the opportunity to use the stage to stir emotions in the jury, detailing the vicious attack Alissa committed. He spoke about each victim, one by one, in the order of their deaths, showing their faces and personalities in photos. Tissues were brought out. Although it took some time to describe in detail what had happened, Dougherty noted that the first eight killings were committed in just 68 seconds.

The defense twice objected during their presentation to the use of language that was intended to inflame the jury’s passions. Judge Ingrid Bakke agreed. At one point, they also filed a motion for a mistrial after Judge Bakke held a brief, informal conference with the parties about how each witness was linked to one of the 55 charges. The judge corrected the record and denied the motion.

Dougherty outlined the prosecution’s case, laying out several key points they would focus on. The first was that Alissa planned the mass murder, starting in January 2021, months earlier, when he was researching guns, ammunition and equipment. Records show he looked at 6,000 photos of guns and 400 photos of bomb-making materials on his phone. He researched things like “Are 30-round magazines legal in Colorado?” (The answer: no, but that didn’t stop him from buying them) and details about other mass shootings, including the Walmart shooting in El Paso, Texas. That premeditation, prosecutors argued, is evidence that he wasn’t having a mental breakdown but was meticulously preparing for what was to come.

Another point Dougherty wanted to make was that Alissa knew what was right and wrong that day, because of who he chose to kill and who he didn’t. An older man who was unaware of what was happening during the incident, simply pushing a cart through an alley, was confronted by Alissa but his life was spared — twice. The same goes for another man who is mentally challenged and was confused when he saw a dead body on the ground when he entered the store, collecting carts in the parking lot. Alissa encountered him more than once and chose not to shoot. However, when the first officers arrived, including the fallen Officer Talley, he took cover and shot himself.

Dunn then delivered an opening statement for the defense that focused on outlining Alissa’s humanity and mental health history. He had no documented issues before he was eventually sent to the hospital in December 2021, after apparently requesting to be placed in isolation while in prison. Dunn addressed why he wasn’t receiving treatment for his condition, despite family members saying he was exhibiting withdrawal symptoms and hallucinations. At one point, his father found him quietly in the living room at 3 a.m. When asked what he was doing, Alissa asked her dad if he had seen a man in the bathroom. There was no one there. According to Dunn, Alissa wasn’t taken to a doctor because they believed his son was possessed by a demon. It was a supernatural phenomenon, not a mental health condition that could be treated with a doctor.

During his speech, Dunn tried to show that while people with schizophrenia are not necessarily mentally ill, Alissa was being affected by the world of voices and delusions in his head, not reality, and that no weight should be given to the lack of a diagnosis before the shooting.

The second half of the day consisted of several witnesses who were in the King Soopers during the attack. One hid in the chip aisle, camouflaged with a yellow jacket that matched the bags. Another hid behind trash cans, one escaped out the back, and all saw or heard people die. Logan Smith was working that day and returned to the store to ask people to leave after witnessing two people being shot outside. As he called 911, his best friend, Rikki Olds, was shot right next to him.

The defense is not denying the charges in the usual way, so it is not forced to challenge the witnesses’ testimony. Today, everything moved quickly, without cross-examination. But when witnesses are called who can speak about potential mental health issues before the day, cross-examination will not be skipped.

Boulder Reporting is providing daily coverage of the King Soopers trial. Find our first week coverage here. Follow our second week coverage here.

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Focus on mental health, 3 years after tragedy

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