Boulder King Soopers shooter found guilty, sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences

BOULDER, Colo. — A Boulder County jury found the man who shot and killed 10 people at a King Soopers in 2021 guilty of all charges, including 10 first-degree murder charges. He will spend the rest of his life in prison.

The judge sentenced the gunman to 10 consecutive life sentences and 1,334 additional years in prison, all to be served consecutively, without the possibility of parole. 

Ahmad Alissa faced 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault, six counts of felony possession of a prohibited large capacity magazine, and 38 crime-of-violence sentence enhancers in the March 22, 2021, shooting at King Soopers at 3600 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder. 

Ten people were killed that day: Neven Stanisic, 23; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Denny Stong, 20; Teri Leiker, 51; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; Jody Waters, 65; Rikki Olds, 25, and Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, 51.

After the conviction, family and friends of the people whose lives were taken that day spoke to the court about their loved ones and urged the judge to sentence the gunman to life without parole.

20th Judicial District Judge Ingrid Bakke listened to all of them, an hourslong, complex cacophony of emotions. Some expressed forgiveness, others frustration and confusion over why the tragedy happened in the first place. They all united under a shared sense of grief.

“The web of pain and sadness and loneliness is vast,” Ellen Mahoney, Kevin Mahoney’s wife, told the court, her voice shaking.

“My dad didn’t want to go. He had so much more life in him,” Mahoney’s daughter, Erika, said. She was six months pregnant when her dad was killed. 

“How about sorry? Where is the apology? An iota of remorse would have gone a long way,” Erika Mahoney said. “If you would have driven into the parking lot and said, ‘I need help,’ my father would have been the first one to help you.”

When Tralona Bartkowiak’s mother, Star, got the call her daughter was dead, she said it was like “my heart was bleeding inside my body.”

Rikki Olds’ uncle, Bobby Olds, said the words: “Thou shalt not kill,” followed by every victim’s name. He told the court his niece’s death left “an unbearable void” in their family.

Lynn Marie Murray’s daughter, Olivia, asked the court to sentence the shooter to life without parole.

“The shooter has given me and all of us a life sentence, robbing us of family. Why should he get any less?” she asked.

Officer Eric Talley’s mother, Judy, was on the phone with her son the day he died. She said one of the last things she told her son when he told her he was being dispatched was “be careful.” Talley was the 10th and final person killed by the shooter. He was the first officer on scene.

What remains after tragedy? Love, they said.

“Life after Terri has been devastating, but we are not devastated. Love is forever. My heart is with the other nine people who were victims of these murders. Our families are forever bonded together,” Terri Leiker’s mother, Margie Whittington, said. She told the court her daughter almost always had a smile on her face.

Laurie Olds said when people met her niece, Rikki, “she brightened you up. She left a little bit of light with you.”

Nevin Stanisic’s sister told the court that her brother loved to fix things, and that he would always take her out for ice cream, even late at night. She said they’d gotten ice cream for the last time the night before he died.

“Love holds us up when we feel down,” Ellen Mahoney said. “Love takes our hand and walks with us when we are lost and afraid.”

Bakke thanked the victims for keeping their loved ones alive with their statements, saying she gets hope from their resilience.

“There’s somebody behind that name,” she said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis released the following statement immediately after the verdict: 

“Three years ago our community felt the unbearable pain of losing ten of our fellow Coloradans in a senseless attack on the Boulder community. That day loved ones, friends, and neighbors were taken from us far too soon by an act of pure evil. Today, justice is served. 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. My thoughts are with the family members and friends of Eric Talley, Rikki Olds, Teri Leiker, Denny Stong, Suzanne Fountain, Tralona Bartkowiak, Neven Stanisic, Lynn Murray, Jody Waters, and Kevin Mahoney, as well as the entire Boulder community. We are all still Boulder Strong.”

Defense attorneys didn’t dispute that the defendant, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was the shooter. They argued he was not guilty by reason of insanity, alleging that he didn’t know the difference between right and wrong when he pulled the trigger.

The case stalled for more than two years after multiple doctors reported that the shooter was not mentally competent to stand trial, meaning he could not understand the proceedings and assist in his own defense.

After treatment and medication, the judge ruled in the fall of 2023 that the man’s competency had been restored.