Woman who fell trying to escape supermarket shooting prayed as people rushed past to escape
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Elan Shakti was tired and had trouble walking but decided to go to the supermarket, using her shopping cart for support, to get plants for a mourning family.
But soon after buying them in March 2021, Shakti found herself lying flat on her chest in the doorway of the store, unable to move, as shots rang out.
Shakti, 79, testified Friday during the trial of the man charged with killing 10 people at the supermarket in the college town of Boulder about what happened after hearing shots outside and then inside the store.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and other offenses, including having six high-capacity ammunition magazine devices banned in Colorado after previous mass shootings.
Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. No one, including Alissa’s lawyers, disputes he was the shooter.
On the witness stand, Shakti recalled that someone who worked in the deli, near the store’s floral department, told people to run. Shakti, who had recently been diagnosed with a heart condition, knew she couldn’t run, but she left her cart behind and tried to make her way out as fast as she could.
She said she fell near the entrance and could not move her body.
“I said ’God, I hope you’re ready for me because I think this is it,’ ” Shakti said.
After she heard people rushing past her, Shakti said she also prayed not to be trampled. Later, she didn’t sense anyone around but still heard shots and thought the shooter was coming toward her. Instead, a man who appeared to be a worker helped lift her up and take her outside to safety. She was diagnosed with a broken vertebrae.
Despite Shakti’s fear, prosecutors say Alissa targeted people who were moving and trying to get away from him, saying that gave him a sense of power and a rush of adrenaline. In one case, they say he saw but then passed by an elderly man who continued to shop, not realizing there was a shooting underway.
Sarah Moonshadow also testified Friday about how she and her son had been in a rush to buy strawberries and tea at a self-checkout stand when the shooting started. Her son, now 25, wanted to run immediately. But she told him to wait, listening for a pause from the gunman from having to reload before fleeing. She ducked down with her son at the kiosk, hearing gunfire and bodies dropping.
She said Alissa looked at her and was trying to raise the end of his rifle up but seemed to bump into a platform at a register. She said she told her son to go and they ran, not moving in a straight line to avoid being hit.
“I think I was just moving and not thinking about anything else,” Moonshadow said.
