CPR is covering the King Soopers shooting trial. You can read our explainer of the case here. You can read previous coverage of the case here.
One of the pharmacists working at the Boulder King Soopers store told a jury on Thursday that she heard the alleged gunman yell out that he was having “fun” amid his shooting spree.
Sarah Chen was ducking behind the pharmacy counter when the man accused of killing 10 people at the store on March 22, 2021, was walking up and down the aisles. He had already killed two people outside and two people right at the entrance before walking in farther toward the self-checkout and killing more people.
The shooting, prosecutors say, was targeted at people who were or appeared to be trying to get away.
Chen was beneath the counter after a colleague told her to duck.
When the accused gunman, 25-year-old Ahmad Alissa, approached the back of the store, near the pharmacy, she said she heard multiple gunshots. When he got closer to where she was hiding, she heard metal banging, which she told the jury she thought was him moving grocery carts. Then she heard yelling.
“I heard him screaming, ‘This is fun, this is fun.’ And I listened more closely. I couldn’t believe … how could anyone be screaming this? And I heard, ‘This is such fun. This is such fun,’ ” Chen said on the witness stand. “I thought everyone else heard it too. He said it so many times.”
Chen moved to the back of the pharmacy and continued to wait. The next thing she heard was the alleged gunman saying, “I surrender, I’m naked, I surrender, don’t shoot. And then he said it again and he said, ‘I surrender. I’m naked. I’m unarmed. Don’t shoot.’ ”
Alissa was hit in the leg by a bullet fired by Boulder Police Officer Richard Steidell. Alissa was treated and eventually released for the injury. He emerged from the grocery store in only his underwear.
After that, Chen said, she eventually heard dogs and police officers from her hiding spot. They told those hiding to put their hands up, they patted them down and then they let them out of the pharmacy and their hiding positions.
Also on Thursday, the prosecution called an FBI agent who testified that Alissa had a number of guns and ammunition stored at his home and bedroom and bathroom.
Another forensic expert, who was an analyst for the Boulder Police Department at the time of the shooting, Stephanie Sears described multiple searches on his phone of two previous mass shootings and searches about guns, ammunition and protection.
She also testified that the man had also been to Boulder before.
The prosecution is expected to rest its case on Friday, and defense is set to begin Monday.
