Day 9 of King Soopers shooting trial: Father’s Concerns for Family Reputation if Defendant Sought Treatment

Editor’s note: Denver7 has chosen to not include the defendant’s name in our coverage of the trial to respect victims and their loved ones, and to not glorify the defendant. This trial aims to determine if the defendant was insane or not at the time of the shooting — not if he shot and killed people at the King Soopers, which the defense is not contesting. Therefore, we have removed words such as “alleged” and “suspected” from our trial coverage when referring to him.

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — The jury trial is underway to determine if a defendant accused of shooting and killing 10 people at a King Soopers store in Boulder on March 22, 2021 was insane at the time of the shooting.

The defendant was arrested the same day as the mass shooting, but the case was stalled by several competency hearings. He was found competent to stand trial in August 2023 and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity three months later. He faces a slew of charges, including 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of attempted murder, first-degree assault, and six counts of using a large-capacity magazine in a crime, plus multiple crimes of violence.

The 10 people who lost their lives that day were Suzanne Fountain, Rikki Olds, Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, Jody Waters, Denny Stong, Tralona Bartkowiak, Neven Stanisic, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray and Teri Leiker. Read more about them here.

Opening statements began on the morning of Sept. 5. Denver7 will follow each day of this trial. Read the latest below.

Tuesday, Sept. 17

Despite obvious signs of the gunman’s mental instability in the years leading up to the 2021 mass shooting, the defendant’s father testified Tuesday that he didn’t seek mental health treatment for his son because of the possible harm to the family’s reputation.

Moustafa Alissa, the Syrian-born father of the 25-year-old defendant, took the stand Tuesday and told the jury his son’s mental health began to deteriorate soon after he graduated high school. Still, Alissa said the family didn’t seek treatment for his son to protect his family’s reputation amid cultural pressures.

“It’s shameful in our culture to say our son’s crazy, and also, we were thinking he was probably possessed by a spirit,” Alissa said through an interpreter.

Alissa, who owns multiple restaurants in the Denver metro area, described numerous incidents where he questioned the gunman’s sanity but continued to allow him to work at his restaurants and even possess firearms, he testified Tuesday. But he told the court he would have acted if he knew his son was violent.

The father recalled an incident at his home about two to three days before the King Soopers shooting where he encountered the gunman with a machine gun that apparently had jammed, and the defendant was banging it on the floor to try to get it unjammed. But he testified he knew nothing about any other weapons the defendant had and believed his son was harmless.

“We knew he was sick. He had something wrong, but we don’t know what it was,” he said.

The defendant’s sister also took the stand Tuesday. She testified that she was aware that the defendant’s behavior was increasingly becoming erratic, but she never saw him get violent and was devastated when she learned of the shooting.

“It was the worst day of my life. I can’t describe it. I mean, it was very difficult, not only for my brother, but the people,” she said through an interpreter.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Michelle Colarelli, who treated the shooter at the state hospital, testified that the defendant was responding well to medication and opened up to her a little more about his actions in the days just before the mass shooting.

When asked if the gunman had been thinking about committing the offense a month before March 22, 2021, Dr. Colarelli responded by saying, “Yes.’

She also testified that the defendant explained that he had to drive to the site from Arvada and estimated it would take him 30 minutes to get there. The defendant also indicated that he had visited the site of the attack two days before the shooting.

Court resumes Wednesday morning.