BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A man who gunned down 10 people in a supermarket mass shooting was not insane when he unleashed terror in a Colorado college town but a calculated killer who knew what he did was wrong, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday in an opening statement swiftly disputed by the defense attorney.
Years of legal wrangling over the mental state of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa during the March 2021 shooting will likely continue through his three-week trial.
Alissa's attorney argued that his client, who has been diagnosed with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, suffered from hallucinations — hearing screaming voices, seeing people who weren't there and believing he was being followed — in the runup to the shooting at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder.
Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. No one, including Alissa’s lawyers, disputes he was the shooter.
“We’re not running from that. But if you’re going to point the finger at this guy, you deserve to hear the truth about him. This man, Ahmad Alissa, is an ill individual,” said his attorney, Samuel Dunn, in his opening statement.
A prosecutor argued Alissa was able to determine right from wrong and therefore sane.
“The victims were random, but the murders were absolutely deliberate and intentional,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty told jurors.
Dressed in a striped white dress shirt, Alissa sat beside his attorneys in court, sometimes swiveling in his chair and turning to look up at a video screen where lawyers presented evidence and bullet points of their arguments.
Relatives of the victims filled rows on the opposite side of court, dabbing their eyes at times and comforting one another.
Alissa is charged with 10 counts of murder, 15 counts of attempted murder and other offenses for the shooting in Boulder, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Denver.
Alissa’s motive, if he had one, has remained unclear and Dougherty did not posit one. He argued Alissa acted with intent and full knowledge of his wrongdoing.
Most of those shot inside and outside the store were killed in just over a minute. Alissa targeted people trying to flee and made a special effort to finish off those he wounded with additional shots, Dougherty pointed out.
“The shooter prepared to kill them, planned to kill them, and went and executed 10 people at King Soopers. That’s why you’re here,” Dougherty told the jury after showing photos of each victim and describing why each was at the store that day.
No one who was shot survived. After shooting eight people, Alissa prowled the store — which had fallen quiet except for background music still playing over the store speakers — then spotted and killed Suzanne Fountain, 59, as she left a hiding spot in another aisle.
His final victim was Boulder Police officer Eric Talley, a father of seven and one of the first three officers who entered the store.
Alissa surrendered to other police who arrived, voluntarily stripping down to his underwear and complying with their instructions as they approached and handcuffed him.
“There’s no hallucinating, there’s no delusion, there’s no confusion,” Dougherty said of Alissa’s behavior.
Alissa’s attorney described a range of hallucinations, delusions and social withdrawal that relatives said Alissa experienced before the shooting and that psychiatrists later verified.
The schizophrenia was so severe it took years for him to engage with therapists and only after he was given a drug, clozapine, which Dunn pointed out is used only when other treatments don't work.
Before the shooting, Alissa had gone without treatment as a member of a Syrian immigrant family whose father believed possession by an evil spirit, or djinn, was to blame, Dunn said.
“I want you to imagine that between your ears, where you have no shelter or reprieve, you can’t identify the source of it: You just hear yelling and screaming," Dunn said. "That’s what was being broadcast in Ahmad Alissa’s mind.”
Once, Alissa's father awoke at 3 a.m. and his son, who was also awake, asked if he had seen a man in the bathroom. The father looked and nobody was there, Dunn said.
“The law says you can have intent and be insane. But what the law doesn’t allow is you to ignore plain, clear evidence someone’s mental illness that is severe and chronic and say that person is sane, that person is capable of telling right from wrong," Dunn said.
He told jurors to use “common sense, apply the law," and find Alissa insane.
If successful, Alissa's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity could enable him to avoid prison and instead be committed indefinitely to the state mental hospital.
Prosecution witnesses who testified Thursday included Alison Sheets, an emergency room doctor who heard the gunfire while shopping and hid sideways on a shelf of potato chips. There, she heard more shots and somebody in the next aisle taking their last breath — a sound she recognized from work.
“It was a sigh, almost,” she said. Prosecutors said it was Fountain's dying breath.
A mental health evaluator testified during a competency hearing in 2022 that Alissa said he bought firearms to carry out a mass shooting and suggested he wanted police to kill him.
Relatives have said he irrationally believed that the FBI was following him and that he would talk to himself as if he were talking to someone who was not there, according to court documents.
Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming.
A woman walks in front of the Boulder County Justice Center in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
FILE - Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in March 2021, is led into a courtroom for a hearing, Sept. 7, 2021, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Pool, File)
FILE - Pictures of the 10 victims of a mass shooting in a King Soopers grocery store are posted on a cement barrier outside the supermarket in Boulder, Colo., on April 23, 2021. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - Tributes cover the temporary fence around the King Soopers grocery store in which 10 people died in a mass shooting in late March on Friday, April 23, 2021, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
The last Emmys — in January, the 75th edition — went reunion crazy on such a big birthday, with cast reunions of such classic series as “Cheers,” “The Sopranos,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “All in the Family.” The latest Emmys said: “Hold my, applause.”
“Shogun,” “Baby Reindeer” and “The Bear” all picked up trophies throughout the night that was peppered with reunions of shows like “Saturday Night Live” and “Happy Days,” as well as themes, like TV dads and moms.
Here are some of the night’s notable moments:
The father-and-son duo of Eugene and Dan Levy, the winning stars of the 2020 Emmys aboard “Schitt’s Creek,” hosted and they were warm, mocking themselves as they noted the TV telecast was honoring "movie stars on streaming services.”
Even when the Candians went after a show — like “The Bear,” competing in the best comedy series category, even though it's not a traditional yukfest — it was gentle.
“Now, I love the show, I love the show, and I know some of you will be expecting us to make a joke about whether ‘The Bear’ is really a comedy — but in the true spirit of ‘The Bear,’ we will not be making any jokes,” Eugene Levy said.
In one bit, the two found themselves in the audience but in different rows, mistaking stage left for house left. Awkwardness ensued. When they tried to push through, Eugene Levy wailed: “I can't see the prompter!”
John Oliver thanked a lot of people after his “Last Week Tonight” won for outstanding scripted variety series, but things got weird when he ended up honoring his family’s recently dead dog.
“We have the most fantastic dog, and she was at our wedding and she got us through the pandemic. She was with us for two pregnancies…,” he said, before getting the leave-the-stage music swelled.
Oliver didn’t take the hint: “We had to say goodbye to her. I feel like Sarah McLaughlin right now. She was an amazing dog,” he said. He then shouted an expletive and tried to make it more than about his deceased canine.
“This isn’t just for her. This is for all dogs,” he continued as the auditorium roared. “All dogs, you are all very good girls. You are very good boys. You all deserve a treat. Play me off now! Thanks so much.”
“The West Wing” celebrated its 25th anniversary with castmembers Martin Sheen, Dulé Hill, Richard Schiff, Janel Moloney and Allison Janney gathering to help hand out the best drama trophy.
Created by Aaron Sorkin and first airing on NBC in the fall 1999, “The West Wing” offed an idealistic depiction of what politics can be. The castmembers gathered in a set mimicking the Oval Office. It ended in 2006.
“It's hard to believe that just 25 years ago, Aaron and the writers actually had to use their imaginations to create interesting plot lines for ‘The West Wing,’” Janney said. Added Schiff: “Unlike today, where storylines can be plucked right off the news, storylines that writers would have deemed a bit far-fetched if not utterly ridiculous 25 years ago.”
Jane Lynch, who played vicious cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester on “Glee” and Brendan Hunt, the quiet Coach Willis Beard on “Ted Lasso,” teamed up to help hand out the award for best director of a drama series.
They appeared in a locker room set, with Lynch teasing Hunt that she was a head coach on TV and he was just an assistant coach. But the stage seemed a little too big for just these two TV coaches.
That changed when the stage revealed Paris Olympians Ilona Maher, Caeleb Dressel and Stephen “Pommel Horse Guy” Nedoroscik alongside Paralympian Ezra Frech.
“Saturday Night Live” got a head start to its 50th anniversary next year with a mini-reunion, as Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Seth Meyers and Bowen Yang presented the award for best writing for a variety special.
Three of the four mocked creator and producer Lorne Michaels in the audience, who they claimed was nominated and lost 85 times at the Emmys. Rudolph said he was “robbed.” Yang said “it gets better” and “keep winning.” Meyers corrected them all to say that, in fact, Michaels has actually won 21 Emmys. Yang then leaned into mispronouncing his boss' first name.
It may have been a taste for 2025, when the trailblazing sketch show will be celebrated, including a three-hour live primetime special in February. It has been the springboard for such stars as Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and Mike Myers.
Antony Starr of “The Boys,” Giancarlo Esposito from “Breaking Bad” and Kathy Bates of “Misery” came out to represent an oddly key part of TV — the villains.
“Without villains or antagonists, there wouldn’t be much of a story,” Esposito said. But it takes its toll. “Do you know how hard it was to get a date after ‘Misery,'” Bates joked about her Stephen King role as a crazed kidnapper.
Esposito complained that drug dealers will interrupt his dinner to ask his advice about building their empires and Starr said so many 12-year-old critics have approached him to say his superhero is “bad.” He responds that the show has an R rating. “It’s sloppy, sloppy parenting,” he observed.
George Lopez, Damon Wayans, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who have all played memorable TV dads, gathered to recognize the lead actor in a comedy series. They walked into a mancave set and Lopez and Wayans said they wanted to thank their TV wives, but Ferguson balked, having starred with a TV husband instead on “Modern Family.” “I’m so sorry, did you watch my show, or...?” he asked them. “Yes, all 90 seasons,” Wayans responded.
Later, it was the moms’ turn. Meredith Baxter, who played the “Family Ties” matriarch, Connie Britton of “Friday Night Lights” and Susan Kelechi Watson of “This Is Us” presented the award for best writing for a comedy series. “We have come a long way,” said Baxter. “TV moms are no longer one-dimensional,” said Watson. “It’s OK to ask for as much as a TV dad.”
Director-producer Ron Howard and actor-author Henry Winkler reunited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Happy Days,” a romanticized take on teenage life in the 1950s that pivoted on adolescent humor about cars and dating.
Winkler, who played cool guy Fonzie with his signature “Aaaayy!” with both thumbs up, and Howard, who played the goody-goody Richie Cunningham, became household names thanks to the sitcom, which ran from 1974–1980. Winkler went on to win an Emmy on HBO’s dark comedy “Barry” and spread awareness about dyslexia as a best-selling author; Howard went on direct such Oscar-winners as “Apollo 13” and “A Beautiful Mind.”
The two men met onstage in a set dressed like the diner the show was mostly set in. Winkler congratulated Howard for his Emmy-winning documentary on Jim Henson. But despite some prodding by Howard, Winkler wouldn’t sing the theme song. “I'm out of practice,” he said. “And it takes schooling.” So Winkler nudged the jukebox with his elbow instead and the theme played.
The TV criminal justice system was represented Sunday by two separate but equal parts. There were the cops – Jimmy Smits of “NYPD Blue,” Niecy Nash-Betts of “Reno 911!” and Don Johnson of “Miami Vice.” They appeared on a set with a New York City police car onstage. Smits noted that he died in episode one of “Miami Vice” and later as a cast member of “NYPD Blue.” Nash-Betts said she never died: “I’m Black and I survived ‘Dahmer,’” she joked.
And then there were the TV lawyers who took cases to court: Viola Davis of “How to Get Away with Murder,” Gina Torres from “Suits” and Christine Baranski from “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight.” (Though, to be honest, Smits was also a good lawyer in “L.A. Law.”)
“Lawyers have seen every combination of the human condition,” Davis said. Added Torres: “In so many ways, they try to better that human condition and uplift us.”
For more coverage of the 2024 Emmys, visit https://apnews.com/hub/emmy-awards
Gina Torres, from left, Viola Davis, and Christine Baranski present the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Brendan Hunt, left, and Jane Lynch present the award for outstanding directing for a drama seriesduring the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Ron Howard, left, and Henry Winkler present the award for outstanding directing for a comedy series during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Hosts Eugene Levy and Dan Levy speak during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Maya Rudolph, from left, Seth Meyers, Kristen Wiig, and Bowen Yang present the award for outstanding writing for a variety special during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Antony Starr, from left, Kathy Bates, and Giancarlo Esposito present the award for outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
