Boulder shooter Ahmad Alissa was 'laughing at us', cops and witnesses recall massacre that killed 10
BOULDER, COLORADO: Police and witnesses have revealed how the suspect in Monday's mass shooting at a Boulder supermarket was "laughing" as he sprayed bullets across the grocery store and took the lives of 10 people.
Shopper Angelina Romero-Chavez recounted to Denver Post how she hid from the gunman while shots rang out around her. “We could hear a man chuckling,” the 23-year-old recalled. “Gunshots were close. We believe it was him chuckling." Meanwhile, police also radioed that "this guy is laughing at us," per records reviewed by the Denver Post.
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The harrowing detail emerged on Saturday, March 27, five days after 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa carried out the brutal massacre using an AR-556 rifle. Investigators are yet to establish a motive for the killings. Romero-Chavez said she survived the massacre by barricading herself inside of a storage closet with her boyfriend Amos Plentywolf, a worker, and another couple. She said they blocked the door with boxes and supplies at the store.
According to Denver Post, Plentywolf's mother was waiting for the couple in the parking lot and was desperately trying to reach her son. “He hung up on me,” Semele Plentywolf told the outlet. “I kept trying to call him and text him. There was no answer. I was freaking out.” Romero-Chavez also revealed how she sent her mother a rather chilling text. “'There has been a shooting at King Soopers. Me and Amos are in a storage closet.' Those are the last words I sent,” she told the outlet.
Alissa was taken into custody after he shot and killed Boulder Police officer Eric Talley, who was the first responder at the scene. He is currently being held without bond and faces 10 counts of first-degree murder, according to the New York Post.
MEAWW reported how Alissa was moved to a correctional facility outside of the county after jail officials learned of threats to his safety. Alissa was shifted from the jail after his first appearance in court on March 25 morning, when he appeared in person before District Judge Thomas Francis Mulvahill at 8.15 am local time. During the hearing, Alissa's lawyers asked the judge to delay the next hearing for three months, insisting "we cannot do anything until we are able to fully assess Mr. Alissa's mental illness." One of his attorneys reportedly said, "We cannot begin to assess the nature and depth of Mr. Alissa's mental illness until we have the discovery from the government."
The request was granted by Judge Mulvahill, who also ruled that Alissa will be held without bail and ordered recess barely six minutes into the hearing. Meanwhile, the prosecution said it will be filing additional charges "in the coming weeks" and that the Boulder crime scene will be processed in a "couple of days". While Mulvahill did not specify how long the hearings would be delayed for the evaluation, he gave the defense two weeks to respond to a motion.
Alissa, who spoke only to confirm that he understood the charges, was seen in a wheelchair, wearing a face mask and a blue paper gown. He was wheeled out of the courtroom by a police officer at the end of the hearing, which lasted for five and a half minutes.