BOULDER, Colo. – The man accused of carrying out a deadly mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder nearly three years ago targeted and pursued each individual victim who was killed, a detective testified during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday. Boulder police detective Sarah Cantu testified in Boulder County District Court that the shooter identified and pursued his victims, quickly and repeatedly firing at them. All but one of the 10 people who were killed were shot multiple times, Cantu said.

District Judge Ingrid Bakke will decide after Tuesday’s preliminary hearing whether prosecutors have enough evidence to allow the criminal case to go forward against Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 24. Alissa is charged with carrying out the mass shooting on March 22, 2021, at the Table Mesa King Soopers, killing 10 customers, employees, and a responding Boulder police officer in the attack. He faces 10 counts of first-degree murder, multiple counts of attempted murder, and numerous additional charges.

Authorities say he opened fire in the parking lot of the grocery store and then ran inside just before 2:30 p.m., firing a Ruger AR-556 pistol — equipped to function similarly to a rifle, with a longer-than-normal barrel — and a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, though police have said they don’t believe Alissa ever fired the 9 mm gun.

Much of the attack was captured on the store’s surveillance video, prosecutors have said. The first eight victims were shot and killed in 69 seconds, and another 14 people were shot at during that same time frame, Cantu testified. Inside the store, the attacker pursued people as they ran, the detective said. She described how the shooter shot one man in the back, and then followed the man as he fell between two checkout lines and crawled to try to get away.

The criminal case against Alissa, who has schizophrenia, stalled for nearly two years after he was found to be mentally incompetent to stand trial in December 2021. He was found competent in October, allowing the preliminary hearing to take place and the case to move forward. Alissa did not appear to show emotion during the hearing, where he sat shackled and handcuffed with his defense attorneys. Some of the survivors of the attack and family of the victims cried quietly as Cantu methodically described how each of the 10 victims were killed.

The victims killed in the shooting were: Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Teri Leiker, 51; Boulder police Officer Eric Talley, 51; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.