Ahmad Alissa was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for each of the 10 murder victims on Monday afternoon after being found guilty on all 55 counts against him for the King Soopers shooting three years ago.

In all, he will serve 10 life sentences plus 1334 years for the lesser charges of attempted murder, assault and possession of illegal magazines. 

Immediately after his conviction, he was led out of the courtroom dressed in civilian clothing. When he returned, he had changed to an orange and white striped jail outfit and listened, often looking to the podium where the victims’ friends and family members spoke about the impact of his decision to commit a mass murder in a crowded place on a sleepy Monday afternoon that day in March 2021. 

As the gunman’s family left the courthouse, his mother said that she knew people were questioning whether they took good care of him as his mental illness got worse. “If we thought or knew anything about schizophrenia we would not live with him. We are just from a different culture,” Khadija Alhidid said in Arabic, her son translating for her. 

Mom, I”m dispatched. I gotta go.

Dozens of victims’ loved ones had stories for 20th Judicial District Ingrid Bakke during the trial’s sentencing phase. Some expressed forgiveness. Others said they were perplexed that the gunman never expressed remorse for the lives he took.

“How about sorry? Where is the apology? An iota of remorse would have gone a long way,” said Kevin Mahoney’s daughter, Erika Mahoney. “If you would have driven into the parking lot and said, ‘I need help,’ my father would have been the first one to help you.”

She was six months pregnant when her father was killed. She is now the mother of two children. 

On Boulder Police officer Eric Talley’s last day, he was complaining to his mom, Judy, about how Dr. Seuss’ books were being banned and how he couldn’t get a McDonald’s spicy chicken sandwich. But their conversation was cut short.

“Mom, I’m dispatched. I gotta go,” he had said.

“Be careful,” she had replied. 

Like some of the other family members, Judy Talley remarked on her son’s legacy.

“Maybe he thought he put out Eric’s life,” she said of the gunman, who sat just feet to her right. “He didn’t. Eric lived 18,805 days on this planet and he loved his family and his seven beautiful children.”

It was an emotional afternoon of insight and release for families who had waited 3.5 years for the trial, in which the defendant, 25, was found guilty of 55 counts, including first degree murder for the victims he shot in the Boulder Table Mesa King Soopers on March 22, 2021.

Talley was the tenth and last victim that day.

Teri Leiker’s mother, Margie Whittington, explained that her daughter was born with mild brain damage caused by an anesthetic Whittington had during surgery while she was pregnant.

“She could read, she could write, and she could keep a home,” Whittington said. “She (Teri) would be 55 now.” Teri Leikert first moved into a condominium on her own in 2008. 

Whittington said that Leiker was beloved by customers who knew her during her 32-year career as a King Soopers courtesy clerk.

When it was Robert Olds’ turn, Rikki Olds’ uncle said the words: “Thou shalt not kill,” followed by every victim’s name.

“It’s absolutely absurd that a murderer has more rights than a victim,” said Olds, who did not miss a day of trial, always in the front row and often wearing an American flag shirt.

Tralona ‘Lonna’ Bartkowiak’s mother, Star, said her daughter went to the grocery store that day to pick up a prescription and never came home again.

When she got the call that her daughter was dead, “my face was melting. I couldn’t breathe,” said Bartkowiak.

Some mornings. she said she wakes up and “wishes it was a bad dream,” adding, but “it was another (expletive) day.”

A moment to smile

Along with the sadness, there were also fond moments. Nicolina Stanisic said that her big brother, Neven, loved to take things apart from the time he was a child, like he did with a razor scooter he received as a present.

It was a habit he never grew out of. One day, she said, Neven turned up with blue hands after fixing a Slurpee machine. 

Stanisic, 23, was the first to be shot and killed, still strapped in the seatbelt of his service van. He had just fixed a Starbucks expresso machine and was on his tablet figuring out his next call. 

Nicolina Stanisic said that Neven, whose family emigrated from Serbia when he was a baby, was her parents’ “first joy, first happiness and their first sadness and heartbreak.” 

As the 3.5 years of wondering ended for victims’ families, Bakke remarked on  their patience.

She gave a short tribute to each of the 10 murder victims and thanked their families for giving life to those who died with their statements.

“There’s somebody behind that name,” she told them. 

Once the trial was over, the families gathered with the prosecution team, and Boulder police officers. Many said that the connections they made with each was the only goodness to come out of an unbelievably tragic situation.

Erika Mahoney, Kevin Mahoney’s daughter, and Olivia Mackenzie, whose mother Lynn Murray also died, have become close friends. “We are a trauma-bonded famliy,” Mahoney said.