The mass murder suspect in Boulder, Colorado’s March 22 shooting at the King Soopers that left 10 people dead was wounded by a Boulder police officer, according to a report released Thursday.
A report from Boulder County District Attorney Michael T. Dougherty said Ahmed Al Aliwi Alissa was wounded in the leg by a bullet from the pistol of Officer Richard Steidell. The report also found Steidell was justified in shooting Alissa, stopping the fatal attack.
As noted by Fox News and the report, Steidell was part of a “second wave” of officers responding to the shooting. They entered the store after a trio of officers including Eric Talley, had moved in. Talley was killed in the incident, along with nine private citizens. The Denver Post noted Steidell and other officers were fired upon within 20 seconds of entering the store.
In a press release from Dougherty’s office, the prosecutor revealed Steidell and other officers had been shot at and that he returned fire, hitting the suspect in the right thigh.
In the report, Dougherty stated, “No civilian was shot or killed after Boulder Police Officers entered the store. No person other than Officer Steidell fired a weapon at the shooter.”
According to Fox News, Alissa’s defense team “has suggested he suffers from mental illness. But they have not offered any other details about his condition.”
Steidell’s duty pistol was a Heckler & Koch VP 9, a 9mm-caliber handgun, the report specified. He initially fired twice after being fired at, then dove to the floor and when the suspect reappeared at the far end of an aisle, Steidell fired several more times because, as the report states, he “had no other means of safely subduing or stopping the shooter.”
FBI investigators processed the crime scene and recovered eight spent 9mm cartridge casings near where Steidell had been when he fired. After he performed a tactical reload following the shooting, his original magazine was found to have seven rounds remaining, and he had a live round in the chamber. The HK VP9 carries a 15-round magazine.
The Boulder shooting set off a wave of anti-gun rhetoric, as it happened just a week after a Georgia man was apprehended as the suspect in a trip of shootings at massage spas in the Atlanta area left several people dead. Now, several weeks after the shooting, the Biden administration is reportedly working on new gun control initiatives, which Second Amendment activists say will penalize law-abiding citizens who had nothing to do with either shooting.
