Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, Suspected Boulder Shooter, Charged With Trying to Kill 11 Cops During Attack
The man accused of killing 10 people at a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store on March 22 has been accused of trying to kill 19 others, including 11 police officers, court records show.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said that 40 new felony charges have been filed against Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, including the attempted murder charges. A motive has yet to be determined and Dougherty said there was no indication that Alissa had ever visited the King Soopers before.
Alissa, 22, allegedly possessed 10 high-capacity magazines during the attack. Investigators believe the magazines were purchased legally, although magazines that hold more than 15 rounds are illegal to possess in the state of Colorado. The magazines were banned after the 2012 mass shootings at a movie theater near Denver and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
An investigation by KUSA-TV found that some Colorado gun shops skirted the 2013 law banning the sale of high-capacity magazines by selling the disassembled parts of the magazines. Once the magazines are assembled, it is illegal to possess them in the state.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:
The magazines were found on Alissa and in a car parked outside the store, Dougherty said. He declined to say how many unused bullets investigators recovered and did not say how many bullets the magazines seized could hold.
Some of the victims have more than one count of attempted first-degree murder associated with them, specifying two theories for how Alissa allegedly tried to kill them, either intentionally or through "extreme indifference" to human life.
Dougherty said investigators have determined that nine people in the store were killed before responding police officers entered. One of those officers, Eric Tally, was the 10th murder victim, the prosecutor said. A second wave of officers stormed the store within 30 seconds and took Alissa into custody after he was shot in the leg.
At least 115 people were in the store during the attack and at least 25 were in the lot where Alissa parked before entering the store, Dougherty said.
Boulder investigators said Alissa legally purchased a Ruger AR-556 pistol, which resembles an AR-15 rifle with a slightly shorter stock, that was used in the attack. He bought it six days before the shooting after passing a background check.
Alissa's defense team has asked for time to evaluate what one of his lawyers cited his "mental illness" without offering any details about the condition.
The suspect has not been asked to enter a plea yet and the public defenders who represent him are prohibited from talking to the media about the case under office policy.
