Sarah Chen made it to work at the Boulder King Soopers 15 minutes early on March 22, 2021, 15 minutes before the shooting that resulted in the death of 10 people.

Chen, one of two King Soopers pharmacy employees who took the stand on Thursday morning, testified about hearing the shooter yell out while firing.

“I heard him screaming, ‘This is fun! This is fun!’,” Chen said. “I couldn’t believe no one else heard it. He said it so many times.”

The man who reportedly shouted those words, Ahmad Alissa, is on trial this month after he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault, six counts of felony possession of a prohibited large capacity magazine, and 38 crime-of-violence sentence enhancers in connection with the shooting.

Chen said when she heard there was an active shooter she froze then ducked behind the counter. Eventually she moved to the back of the pharmacy and held a chair in front of her.

“I didn’t want to die,” Chen said. “I wanted to use it as a weapon if I could. … It got very, very quiet and I held my position and I just waited.”‘Oh my God, this is real’

Chen’s testimony followed former pharmacy tech Maggie Montoya, who testified that when she heard there was a shooter, she hid in the immunization room with a colleague and she called her parents and hung up calls coming into the pharmacy to not draw attention to the department.

While the two hid, customer Jennifer Jacobsen was making an escape from the parking lot. Jacobsen, who had gone into the store to buy coleslaw and had just gotten into her car, witnessed the fatal shootings outside the store.

Jacobsen said when she first heard pops, which she initially believed were fireworks, she turned around to see the shooter firing into a white van, killing Neven Stanisic. She said the shooter then turned and headed in the direction of Kevin Mahoney, who Jacobsen had just shared a friendly interaction with.

“When he turned, he still had the gun up and I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s going to shoot people,‘” Jacobsen said. “‘Oh my God, this is real, this is happening right now.’”

Jacobsen said she ducked beneath her steering wheel as the shooter approached.

“I put my head down and I thought about my daughter and then I listened to about four to five shots,” Jacobsen said through tears. “My body just kept shaking. I was just thinking, ‘I hope he doesn’t shoot me in the back of my head.’”

Shots rang out and then she slowly peeked back over her dashboard — which is when she met eyes with the shooter. However, about 30 feet away on the pedestrian ramp, Tralona Bartkowiak moved and caught the shooter’s eye, Jacobsen testified.

“(He was) very determined, like a robot, without hesitation,” Jacobsen said. “He was expressionless, just focused, very focused like he was going straight toward her.”

After shooting Bartkowiak point blank, the shooter walked into the store, Jacobsen said.

“The automatic doors opened and he walked right in the store and then the automatic doors closed,” she testified.

Boulder County Sheriff’s Office Commander Joshua Bonafede was with the team that made the third entry into the store and arrested Alissa.

Bonafede talked to the jury through his response and how he moved Talley out of the store as he did not know whether he was alive or not. Bonafede’s body camera footage was shown to the jury.

Bonafede then testified that Alissa followed all commands and when asked if he was the shooter, responded “I guess we’ll see.”

In response, Herold confirmed with Bonafede that he reported that he could not determine whether Alissa was under the influence of drugs or alcohol or if he was experiencing a “break” in his mental illness.

Evidence from Alissa’s home and phone

FBI Special Agent Stephanie Benitez also took the stand Thursday morning and showed the jury photos and physical evidence of the two guns found “in plain sight” in Alissa’s closet. Benitez also found bomb-making materials, gun cases, sight materials and more than 100 bullets, including 80 green-tipped bullets.

Specifically, Benitez recovered five bottles of acetone and a “large” bottle of hydrochloric acid. The chemicals were described by Benitez as precursors to explosives.

A Ruger AR rifle and SAR handgun were recovered from the closet. A Beretta handgun was found in the room next to Alissa’s bedroom. Six loaded magazines that matched the rifle were recovered as well as three loaded magazines for the SAR handgun, according to Benitez.

Benitez was also on the team in charge of identifying survivors of the shooting and returning property by the victims’ next of kin and survivors.

Benitez testified that 51 survivors were identified and 78 vehicles were returned.

“The large majority [of people] escaped out the back,” Benitez said. “Some of them told us they literally ran all the way home.”

Digital forensics examiner Stephanie Sears started her afternoon testimony off teary-eyed. The expert witness said she responded to the scene the day of the shooting while working at Boulder Police Department and knew Boulder Officer Eric Talley.

Sears conducted the search of Alissa’s cellphone and stated Thursday that nearly 6,000 images were tagged in his phones history relating to the incident. The images weren’t necessarily saved in his phone but were viewed as web searches.

“In this phone, I can tell you that the number of images that appeared to be related to this incident was extremely overwhelming,” Sears said.

Exactly 2,112 images were shown across 44 slides to the jury. The images included; tactical vests, scopes, ear and eye protection, holsters, firearms, firearm accessories, security badges, eye masks, ballistic helmets, rifle bags, rifle slings and pocket knives.

About 400 images were found relating to bomb-making materials, according to Sears.

Sears also reviewed some of Alissa’s search history which she said included the Wikipedia page about the El Paso Walmart mass shooting, searches about the Christchurch mosque shootings and a news article about a man and five children being killed in Muskogee, Okla..

Alissa also reportedly looked up “Are hollow point bullets more deadly,” “Are 30-round clips legal in Colorado,” “What is the most deadly type of round (bullet),” and “Can a semi-automatic gun be made automatic with a shoelace?”

The Notes App section of the phone had instructions on how to clear hallways; move while firing; manipulate, load and unload assault rifles; and information on scopes.

District Attorney Michael Dougherty also asked Sears about searches relating to Boulder. Sears said 54 searches were made in Apple Maps that were “specific addresses for businesses in Boulder.”

On the morning on the shooting, Alissa reportedly looked up the locations of Boulder businesses including; Target; Whole Foods; Safeway and Plato’s Closet.

In response, defense attorney Kathryn Herold argued that Alissa also made other searches that morning like; “Kanye West” and “Kanye West net worth.” Herold also pointed to the significantly small amount of data used on the phone — Sears said 30 GB was used out of 128 GB.

Mentions of competency

After the jury was excused, Herold readdressed her concern that mentions of competency in Alissa’s sanity evaluations would be inadmissible.

Herold said throughout Alissa’s insanity evaluations he voiced confusion as to whether it was a competency or insanity evaluation. Herold said it would be a “clear violation” of his right to a fair trial if these statements were not heard and able to be considered by the jury.

In response, Assistant District Attorney Ken Kupfner said a motion had already been ruled on eliminating mention of competency. He said Herold is still able, and would likely benefit, from cross-examining witnesses about Alissa’s confusion during the sanity evaluation, but any mention of competency would lead the jurors to be “incredibly confused.”

He added that competency is a “procedural hurdle” that should not be considered by the jury when making a verdict.

Chief District Judge Ingrid Bakke said she would take the decision under advisement and decide Friday.

According to Herold, the prosecution is expected to bring two doctors to the stand Friday who conducted Alissa’s sanity evaluations before they rest. The defense expects to start calling witnesses on Monday.