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)
LITHIA, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.
At least nine people were dead, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized. Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water that could hide dangerous objects.
“We’re now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable,” DeSantis said Friday. “You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there."
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, Milton flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ' baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.
As homeowners assessed damage to their property, about 2.2 million customers in Florida remained without power Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us. The 260,000 people in St. Petersburg were told to boil water before drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday.
The state’s vital tourism industry started to return to normal, meanwhile, with several theme parks preparing to reopen. The state's busiest airport was also scheduled to fully reopen Friday.
Warnings were heeded and lessons learned. When 8 feet (2.4 meters) of seawater flooded Punta Gorda during Hurricane Helene last month, 121 people had to be rescued, Mayor Lynne Matthews said. Milton brought at least 5 feet (1.5 meters) of flooding, but rescuers only had to save three people.
“So people listened to the evacuation order,” Matthews said.
The flooding from Milton's heavy rains was still causing problems in other areas, however.
Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River on Friday morning. The river is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.
Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water Friday at a strip mall in Lithia east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.
“I’m high and dry where I’m at and I have a barn and 9 acres,” said Evers, adding she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.
In Riverview, named because of its proximity to the Alafia River, a small bridge over a creek washed out, blocking Canadian Del Ockey from the home where he spends the six coldest months of the year.
Two planks over the now trickling creek are the only way he can get to his house. He rented a car and parked it on the other side, making a run Friday morning to get gas and fix a chain saw that broke as he was cutting down fallen trees around his home.
Ockey said he's used to hurricanes, having built his house 26 years ago, but Milton was different.
“We’ve had seven or eight of them come before, but nothing like this one. This was big-time,” Ockey said.
Before noon on Friday, cars with residents returning to evacuated homes in southwest Florida crept along in a slow-moving line of traffic across Interstate 75, also known as Alligator Alley. Many had evacuated to the state’s Atlantic Coast near Fort Lauderdale and Miami. On Thursday evening, bucket trucks, fuel tankers, portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles streamed toward the hardest-hit areas.
Finding gas was still a challenge. Fuel stations were still closed as far away as Ocala, more than a two and a half hour drive north of where the storm made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on Wednesday night.
As residents rushed back to their homes to assess the damages, tourists who had come for a vacation found that Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld had reopened Friday.
Orlando International Airport, the state’s busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume Friday, after resuming domestic arrivals Thursday evening. The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers also reopened Friday.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and Patrick Space Force Base near Cocoa Beach remain closed, with only authorized personnel allowed on the bases. MacDill, home to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command, experienced some damage and flooding, Air Force officials said. Patrick was spared any significant damage.
In Clearwater, Jelvin Glenn said it took less than an hour early Thursday for water to rise to his waist inside his apartment. He and seven kids, ranging in age from 3 to 16, were trapped in the brown, foul floodwaters for about three hours before an upstairs neighbor opened their home to them.
Later Thursday, first responders arrived in boats to ferry them away from the building.
“Sitting in that cold nasty water was kind of bad," Glenn said.
Short-term survival is now turning into long-term worries. A hotel is $160 a night. Everything inside Glenn's apartment is gone. And it can take time to get assistance.
“I ain't going to say we’re homeless," Glenn said. "But we’ve got to start all over again.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough money to deal with the immediate needs of people impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton but will need additional funding at some point, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Friday.
The disaster assistance fund helps pay for the swift response to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters across the U.S. Congress recently replenished the fund with $20 billion — the same amount as last year.
Farrington reported from St. Petersburg, Florida. Associated Press journalists Terry Spencer outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; Lolita Baldor in Washington; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; contributed to this report.
A large pine tree is shown snapped in half outside a flooded home along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A pair of chickens and a turkey take refuge on a flooded home caused by Hurricane Milton along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A box truck sits in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Milton along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A flooded home, from Hurricane Milton is shown along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A flooded home, from the effects of Hurricane Milton is shown along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Master Deputy Robert Unger checks out flooded home from the effects of Hurricane Milton along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A truck from the Florida National Guard goes out to help residents trapped in their homes as waters rise after Hurricane Milton caused the Anclote River to flood, Friday, Oct. 12, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
A Spring Oaks resident checks out the rising floodwaters from the Little Wekiva River on Spring Oaks Blvd. in his neighborhood in Altamonte Springs, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Central Florida rivers are forecast to crest in the coming days because of the excessive rainfall from Hurricane Milton. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
A home on Little Wekiva Road in the Spring Oaks neighborhood in Altamonte Springs, Fla is reflected in the floodwaters from the Little Wekiva River, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Central Florida rivers are forecast to crest in the coming days because of the excessive rainfall from Hurricane Milton. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
A linesman contractor for Duke Energy works on power lines along Forest City Road in Orlando. Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. As of Friday morning, 2.2 million Floridians were reported to still be without power. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
Spring Oaks resident Earline Gonzales talks about the rising waters from the Little Wekiva River in her flooded neighborhood in Altamonte Springs, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Central Florida rivers are forecast to rise in the coming days because of the excessive rainfall from Hurricane Milton. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
The damaged roof of Ron and Jean Dyer's beachfront condo at Bahia Vista Gulf is seen alongside the sand-swamped Jetty Villas, after the passage of Hurricane Milton, on the island of Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Hurricane Milton damage is seen to the beachfront condominium community of Bahia Vista Gulf, on the island of Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A member of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office goes out to help residents trapped in their homes as waters rise after Hurricane Milton caused the Anclote River to flood, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
A bridge going over a small creek is seen damaged by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. The road is the only access point into a community. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A lifeguard hut is on its side after Hurricane Milton at Clearwater Beach, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
Clean up continues at Clearwater Beach, Fla., after Hurricane Milton on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
FILE - Neighborhoods with debris from tornadoes are visible in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Oct. 10, 2024, in Fort Pierce, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Public work employees remove sand that was pushed to the streets by wind and storm surge from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Renel Prophet carries a chainsaw to get it repaired after it broke while cleaning out down trees in his property, which became unaccessible during Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Public work employees remove sand from the roadways, that was pushed to the streets by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge from Hurricane Milton, that leads onto his property, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge to his property from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A man who identified himself as Jesse walks out through floodwaters of the Anclote River after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
A tree toppled by Hurricane Milton lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A truck drives down a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A broken sign and other debris lie alongside Gilligan's Island Bar & Grill after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
People from Sarasota, Fla., visit a familiar beach on Siesta Key, Fla., which they say was already decimated by Hurricane Helene, and lost feet more of sand coverage in Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A car backs up after encountering deeper water on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Natasha Ducre surveys the kitchen of her devastated home, which lost most of its roof during the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Palmetto, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Ducre, her husband, three children, and two grandkids rode out the storm in a government shelter and returned to find their home unlivable and much of their furniture and belongings destroyed by rainwater. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A piece of debris is wrapped high around a tree in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A tree lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A pick up drives past a guard gate on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Flood waters recede after Hurricane Milton, on streets where piles of debris from Hurricane Helene flooding, sit outside many homes, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)