A pharmacist who survived a 2021 mass shooting at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder said Thursday during the gunman’s trial that she heard him say “This is fun” at least three times during the shooting. The chilling detail had not been revealed before.
Sarah Chen described how she hid with her coworkers in the store in the college town after Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa opened fire. She said she was listening carefully for signs of the plexiglass barrier on top of the pharmacy counter, installed because of the pandemic, being moved. She said the shooter would have to move that barrier and then climb up over the counter to reach them. She said she never heard it move but she did hear him yelling.
“I heard him screaming, ‘This is fun. This is fun,’ ” Chen said, not identifying the shooter by name. She said later during questioning she heard the gunman say it three or four times.
Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting. No one, including Alissa’s lawyers, disputes he was the shooter. They say Alissa, who was diagnosed after the shooting 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. They argue he should be found not guilty because he was not able to tell the difference between right and wrong at the time of the shooting.
Allisa is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and other offenses, including having six high-capacity ammunition magazine devices banned in Colorado after previous mass shootings.
Testimony began Sept. 5 and the trial is scheduled to finish by the end of the month.
Another pharmacy worker, Maggie Montoya, who hid in a small room off the pharmacy where Chen took cover, also testified and did not mention hearing Alissa say “This is fun.” Defense attorney Kathryn Herold pointed out in questioning Montoya, a professional runner, that the room where she was hiding was closer to where Alissa was. The defense did not question Chen about what she heard.
Last week, a man who was paying for some ramen for lunch at a self-checkout stand when the shooting started testified he heard someone at the front of the store, where Alissa entered, say “F— you.” James Graham testified that he did not see Alissa but believed he was the one saying that.
Graham said he ran toward the back of the store after he heard shots being fired. He said he believed he was shot at because glass broke all around him and he could smell gun powder.
Graham said he fled out the back of the store and took cover behind a tree or bush, laying in the snow for about 40 minutes until a police officer discovered him. The officer drew his rifle on him, Graham said, but another officer warned the first not to shoot, saying he was a witness.
“I put my head down and started crying,” Graham said.
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