Colorado supermarket shooter sentenced to life in prison
A gunman who shot and killed ten individuals at a Colorado grocery store in 2021 has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 25, was found guilty on ten counts of first-degree murder and 45 additional charges earlier on Monday.
Although Alissa, who live-streamed the attack on YouTube, did not deny being the shooter, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. However, jurors concluded that he was legally sane at the time of the incident.
“Justice has finally been served,” stated Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty, whose office handled the prosecution.
Alissa’s sentencing followed a series of emotional victim impact statements from family members of those who lost loved ones in the tragedy.
“He’s given us a life sentence, robbing us of family. Why should he receive any less?” questioned Olivia MacKenzie, the daughter of victim Lynn Murray.
Margie Whittington, who lost her daughter Teri Leiker, expressed, “We want the shooter to understand that this murder has profoundly changed us.”
Alissa killed the victims, who ranged in age from 20 to 65 and who included one police officer, during an hours-long stand-off at a branch of the popular Colorado grocery chain, King Soopers.
Shoppers and employers at the store had to dive for cover or run for safety after the shooting began.
He was held without bail and had been granted a mental health hearing requested by his defence lawyer.
His attorneys said he was suffering from mental illness on the day of the shooting and unable to tell right from wrong during the attack.
The Associated Press reported he was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the shooting.
His lawyers also said he had heard voices instructing him to carry out the attack, according to the Denver Post.
But for Alissa to be found not guilty by insanity, he had to prove he did not understand he was doing something wrong at the time of the shooting.
Prosecutors argued that purchasing the gun and bullets, researching locations, and then deciding to chase some victims were all proof that Alissa was aware of what he was doing.
Over the course of 10 days, witnesses at the store as well as police officers who responded to the shooting testified before the court.
Jurors found Alissa, a Syrian-born US citizen, guilty on all 10 counts as well as 38 charges of attempted murder, one count of assault and six counts of possessing large-capacity magazines.
The attack at the grocery store, located in the city of Boulder, about 30 miles (50km) from the state’s capital of Denver, took place less than one week after another mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight dead.
