BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — A judge in the King Soopers mass shooting will let prosecutors make their case that the suspected shooter — who’s currently in a state mental health hospital — is “feigning” his condition.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is charged with 115 counts in the March 2021 shooting that killed 10 people, including a responding police officer.
Prosecutors raised concerns that Alissa’s “lack of participation in the restoration process may be voluntary” and requested to show evidence of whether that’s the case, according to a ruling issued Wednesday by District Judge Ingrid S. Bakke.
Bakke found a “good faith” basis to order a restoration hearing in the case, where prosecutors will give evidence on whether Alissa is competent. It could happen as soon as April 28.
Prosecutors: Evidence will show suspect is competent
Alissa’s competency has been at stake since September 2021, when defense attorneys first raised the issue. He underwent three competency evaluations, was found incompetent to move forward with the trial and was moved to the Colorado Mental Health Institute of Pueblo, where he remains today.
His attorneys said in February that he has schizophrenia.
Prosecutors say they will give evidence from expert testimony and the hospital’s own reports in their effort to show that Alissa is competent.
While hospitalized, Alissa has undergone four competency re-evaluations, according to the judge’s ruling. The hospital found that he “is likely restorable to competency within the reasonably foreseeable future.”
According to the judge, prosecutors have also raised the issue of whether the state hospital is providing proper treatment to restore Alissa to competency. But that matter will not be raised at the hearing.
The suspect’s dozens of charges include first-degree and attempted murder, assault, using a large-capacity magazine during a crime and violent-crime sentence enhancers.