Colorado King Soopers shooter sentenced to life without parole

Jurors rejected the argument that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was mentally unfit when he shot and killed 10 shoppers at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo., in March 2021, and a judge sentenced him to life in prison on Monday.

The jury deliberated for more than six hours over two days before delivering the guilty verdict. Alissa was also found guilty on 38 counts of attempted murder and several counts of possessing a large capacity gun magazine. He received 10 consecutive life sentences, one for each murder, with no chance for parole.

Colorado law states people can be found not guilty by reason of insanity if a jury determines that, at the time of the crime, the person cannot decipher between right and wrong.

Since Alissa was found guilty of 10 counts of first-degree murder and one of the victims was a police officer, he is required to serve a life sentence, according to state law.

On March 22, 2021, Alissa entered the King Soopers in Boulder and gunned down 10 victims. The day before the shooting, he was able to purchase a Ruger AR-556 after passing a background check, according to court records reported by CNN.

Alissa was determined to be unfit to stand trial by a district court judge in 2021, according to the CNN story, after he was evaluated by a defense expert, two doctors from a state hospital, and a prosecutor-selected doctor.

The jury in the case against Alissa, however, was not convinced even though the gunman was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the shooting, reported The New York Times.

During closing arguments on Friday, Boulder County district attorney Michael Dougherty said Alissa planned his attack and was determined and focused on seeing it through.

Dougherty also said a psychologist met with Alissa and noted he was disappointed to discover Colorado no longer imposed the death penalty, which Dougherty used to prove Alissa knew what he did was wrong, according to The New York Times article.