Boulder Shooting Suspect Charged with Using Large Magazine

DENVER (AP) — Colorado prosecutors have filed over 40 more felony charges against the man charged with killing 10 people at a Boulder supermarket last month — including allegations he used a large capacity magazine that had been banned by state lawmakers in 2013 in response to mass shootings.

The court document outlining the new charges also lists 19 new victims — including 11 law enforcement officers — that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 22, is accused of trying to kill during the attack.

Some of the victims have more than one count of attempted first-degree murder associated with them, specifying two different theories for how Alissa allegedly tried to kill them, either intentionally or through “extreme indifference” to human life.

The Colorado lawmakers banned the sale of ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds in response to the 2012 mass shootings at a suburban Denver movie theater and at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Despite that, an investigation by KUSA-TV found that some gun Colorado shops have skirted the law by selling the disassembled parts of high capacity magazines that buyers can then assemble.

Boulder investigators have said Alissa legally purchased the Ruger AR-556 pistol used in the attack, which resembles an AR-15 rifle with a slightly shorter stock. He bought it six days before the shooting after passing a background check.

Alissa’s defense team has asked for time to evaluate what one of his lawyers cited his “mental illness” without offering any details about the condition. The suspect has not been asked to enter a plea yet and the public defenders who represent him are prohibited from talking to the media about the case under office policy.

Boulder County’s district attorney, Michael Dougherty, planned to speak with reporters Thursday about the investigation and the next steps in Alissa’s prosecution.