BOULDER, Colo. – According to state experts, the man accused of the 2021 Colorado supermarket shooting that left 10 people dead suffered from untreated mental illness but was deemed legally sane during the attack, as discussed in court on Tuesday. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, the defendant, underwent a sanity evaluation at the state mental hospital, the results of which were not made public during the hearing.
Alissa, appearing in a jail uniform and shackles, sat in court as his lawyers revealed that the evaluation attributed the attack to his untreated schizophrenia, including auditory hallucinations. Prosecutors, however, did not disclose details of their findings during the hearing. District Attorney Michael Dougherty refrained from commenting on the defense’s description of the evaluation’s conclusions, stating that the trial would address these issues in full.
The defendant has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the March 2021 shooting at a Boulder King Soopers store. His defense argues that he was unable to distinguish right from wrong at the time of the crime, leading to the plea. Investigators revealed that Alissa had researched methods of carrying out a mass shooting before launching his attack, targeting moving individuals and using a weapon with a high-capacity magazine to kill most victims in just over a minute.
Mental health concerns raised by Alissa’s lawyers following the shooting prompted a delay in trial proceedings for two years. After being deemed mentally fit to stand trial, he entered the plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Amid strong objections from victims’ families, the trial was scheduled to commence on September 2, with a request for a second evaluation of Alissa’s sanity being approved by the judge. However, the proposal to delay the trial until March 2025 was rejected.
Erika Mahoney, whose father was among the victims, expressed relief that the trial was only postponed by a month, allowing families to move forward without the burden of the trial hanging over them during the holiday season. The judge’s decision was met with mixed emotions, showcasing the complexity and emotional weight of the legal proceedings surrounding the tragic event.