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A man who opened fire at a Colorado supermarket, killing 10 people, has been found guilty of multiple murders.
Ahmad Alissa told psychologists that he had been hearing “killing voices” before he started shooting at a King Soopers store parking lot in Boulder, in March 2021.
The frenzy lasted just over a minute and Alissa only surrendered after an officer shot him in the leg.
The 25-year-old, who has schizophrenia, now faces life in prison after being convicted on Monday after a two-week long trial. Jurors delivered the verdict after six hours, after beginning deliberations on Friday afternoon.
Alissa was convicted on 10 counts of first-degree murder. Jurors also found him guilty on dozens of counts of attempted murder and weapons offenses.
He previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorneys did not dispute that he had fatally shot 10 people, including a police officer during the incident, though they argued he could not tell right from wrong at the time of the attack.
Responding Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, 51, was the first law enforcement agent to arrive at the King Soopers when he was killed. Talley was a father of seven and an 11-year veteran of the Boulder police force, according to NBC.
The other victims were Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.
Prosecutors argued Alissa was sane, pointing to the fact he had not fired randomly and showed an ability to make decisions by pursuing people who were running and trying to hide from him.
He twice passed by a 91-year-old man who continued to shop, unaware of the shooting.
Alissa came armed to the store with steel-piercing bullets and illegal magazines that can hold 30 rounds of ammunition, which prosecutors said showed he took deliberate steps to make the attack as deadly as possible.
He had purchased the assault weapon just six days before the attack, according to an arrest affidavit.
During the trial, the court heard from several members of Alissa’s family, who immigrated to the United States from Syria. They testified that he had become withdrawn and spoke less a few years before the shooting.
He later began acting paranoid and showed signs of hearing voices, they said, and his condition worsened after he got Covid-19 in late 2020. Alissa was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the attack and experts said the behaviors described by relatives are consistent with the onset of the condition.
State forensic psychologists who evaluated Alissa concluded he was sane during the shooting, and despite his plea, the defense did not present any experts to testify that he was insane.
Following the attack Alissa repeatedly told psychologists that he heard voices, including “killing voices” right before the shooting, though he failed during about six hours of interviews to provide more details about the voices or whether they were saying anything specific
Despite the fact that he claimed to have heard voices, the state psychologists said, Alissa did not experience delusions. They said his fear that he could be jailed or killed by police revealed Alissa knew his actions were wrong.
One witness testified that she heard Alissa say “this is fun” at least three times as he went through the store firing his semi-automatic pistol that resembled an AR-15 rifle.
"Today, justice is served," Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in a statement on Monday.
"Though I know this guilty verdict won’t heal the pain so many of us feel, or bring back those who were killed, I hope that it can provide some peace."
