Man, 22, accused of shooting dead ten people including hero father-of-seven cop during Colorado King Soopers store rampage is 'incompetent to stand trial', psychologists say
A man accused of fatally shooting ten people at a Colorado grocery store has reportedly been found incompetent to stand trial by psychologists.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 22, is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, and dozens of attempted murder and related charges stemming from the March 22 rampage at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado.
Prosecutors allege Alissa stormed the supermarket and opened fire with a Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic pistol that he had legally purchased six days before the rampage.
Among those killed was 'heroic' responding Boulder police officer and father-of-seven Eric Talley.
Last month, judge Ingrid Seftar Bakke ordered that one or more state psychiatrists or psychologists conduct an evaluation of Alissa within three weeks at the Boulder County jail, where Alissa has been detained without bond since the shooting.
Although the report by two court-appointed psychologists has not been released, their conclusions were set out in a motion filed by prosecutors for a second examination, to which defense lawyers object.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa (pictured on September 7), 22, is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder related to the March 22 rampage at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado
Among those killed in the grocery store shooting was 'heroic' responding Boulder police officer and father-of-seven Eric Talley (pictured)
Prosecutors argued that the initial evaluation showed that Alissa is aware of his legal predicament.
'Defendant indicates an understanding of his charges, the potential sentence, the roles of the judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney,' the prosecution motion said.
In objecting to the prosecution request, defense attorneys said Alissa mistakenly believes he could be executed if found guilty.
'The death penalty is not a potential sentence in this case, and the report reflects his (Alissa's) fixation on that as a sentence,' the defense motion said.
Under Colorado law, a judge is required to conduct a competency hearing before ruling on whether a defendant is mentally fit to stand trial.
The judge has not ruled on the prosecution request, though the issue will likely be argued during an October 14 competency review hearing.
His mental health is a separate legal issue from a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, which hinges on whether someone's mental health prevented them from knowing right from wrong when a crime was committed.
A finding either way on competency potentially could slow the case down, as it would require state doctors to try and make Alissa competent to stand trial before proceedings can continue.
Prosecutors allege Alissa (pictured being arrested) stormed the supermarket and opened fire with a Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic pistol he purchased six days before the rampage
Based in part on an evaluation it arranged, the defense claims there is a 'reasonable belief' that Alissa suffers from an unspecified 'mental disability'.
Further details about Alissa's mental health issues are not known, contained in a court filing sealed under state law.
Public defender Daniel King previously said the defense will use its right to ask for another evaluation if the state evaluation finds that Alissa is competent.
If Alissa is found incompetent, he could not go on trial unless he can be treated to make him well enough to at least be able to understand proceedings and help his lawyers.
Alissa's brother Ali, 34, told CNN in March that he was bullied at school for his name and for being Muslim, and that he became 'anti social'.
Alissa (pictured) has reportedly been ruled incompetent to stand trial by psychologists, according to a motion filed by prosecutors
'People chose not to mess with him because of his temper, people chose not to really talk to him because of all - how he acted and things like that,' he said.
Alissa had become increasingly 'paranoid' around 2014, believing he was being followed and chased, according to his brother, who he lived with.
'He always suspected someone was behind him, someone was chasing him,' Ali Alissa said.
'We kept a close eye on him when he was in high school.
'He would say, 'Someone is chasing me, someone is investigating me.' And we're like, 'Come on man. There's nothing.'
'He was just closing into himself.'
Alissa is accused of killing nine shoppers and workers inside and outside the store and one of the first three police officers who entered.
Alissa has also been charged with attempted first-degree murder over allegedly firing at 26 other people, including 11 law enforcement officers.
He is also accused of unlawfully possessing 10 high-capacity ammunition magazines, devices banned in Colorado after previous mass shootings.
Investigators have not released a possible motive for the attack.
District Attorney Michael Dougherty said the victims and their families were frustrated that the original evidentiary was delayed with short notice.
He was glad that Bakke set a next hearing so soon but noted that he did not expect the complicated case to be resolved until about two years after the shooting.
'We'll just continue to work through each obstacle on this journey,' said Dougherty after the hearing, joined by two relatives of slain store manager Rikki Olds.
A police vehicle driven by slain officer Eric Talley, who was among 10 people killed in the shooting, is parked outside the police station where people placed flowers on it on March 23
Prosecutors argued that the initial evaluation showed that Alissa (pictured on May 25) is aware of his legal predicament, to which defense lawyers object
Dougherty urged people not to lose sight of the victims and others impacted by the shooting during the long process.
He read the names of Olds and the nine other people killed: Boulder police Officer Eric Talley, Denny Strong, Teri Leiker, Neven Stanisic, Tralona Bartkowiak, Suzanne Fountain, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray and Jody Waters.
One local woman, Susan Gilmore, told AP she came to court to show the victims and their families that they are loved and not forgotten.
She said she and her son Gil have been to some memorial services for those killed and also hold signs of support outside the Boulder Police Department, sympathizing with how they had to grieve their loss while also investigating the shooting.
As she drove in the busy morning traffic to get to court, she wondered if those who lost loved ones in the shooting might feel the rest of the world has moved on.
'I just hope that the community continues to lift them up,' she said.
In March, witness to the shooting Maggie Montoya, who was working at the King Soopers supermarket, said she heard gunshots ring out through the store as she took cover in a pharmacy room and called 911 and her family.
Once police arrived and ordered the shooter to surrender, Montoya was shocked to hear Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa respond from just in front of the pharmacy, she told CPR.
Alissa was subsequently seen being escorted away in handcuffs with a bloodied leg outside the supermarket in Boulder, and now faces ten counts of murder.
Montoya, 25, described how she ran for cover in a room where pharmacists had been giving out Covid-19 vaccines on the day of the shooting.
She heard what she said were several bursts of rapid gunfire, against the background of supermarket music still playing over the public address system.
While she hoped for safety behind a metal door, Montoya said she was 'just imagining the person hopping the counter and just coming in the room'.
From her hiding place, she called 911 and contacted her parents and her boyfriend, as well as the husband of a pharmacy co-worker who did not have her phone.
After the shooting died down she said she 'thought everybody was dead' and wondered why police had yet to storm inside the supermarket.
People comfort each other outside the store while police watch over them following the mass shooting in Boulder on March 22
Further details about Alissa's (pictured on April 21) mental health issues are not known, contained in a court filing sealed under state law
But finally she heard the voice of a police officer on the loudspeaker telling the shooter that 'the entire building is surrounded... I need you to surrender now'.
In a further shock to Montoya, she heard a voice respond from close to her pharmacy hiding place: 'I surrender, I'm naked'.
But there was no immediate response and long minutes passed before Montoya heard police forcing their way inside.
The shooter 'was still by the pharmacy when they told him to surrender', Montoya said, adding that the suspect had repeated that he was naked.
She then heard him walking away from the pharmacy before hearing the voices of police attending to the scene - but she still feared there could be more gunmen.
Montoya also described her relief when police, rather than a shooter, knocked on the door of her hiding place - saying 'the right people came through the door'.
Once outside the supermarket, she was reunited with her boyfriend Jordan Carpenter who was among those who had gathered outside the store.
Meanwhile, Alissa was being taken to hospital after being shot in an exchange of fire with officers.
Colorado has previously suffered two of the most infamous mass shootings in US history - at Columbine High School in 1999, and at a movie theater in Aurora in 2012.
The city of Boulder imposed a ban on 'assault-style weapons' and large-capacity gun magazines in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting in 2018.
But a judge in March blocked that ban, the Denver Post reported, in a decision hailed by the National Rifle Association.
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