BOULDER, Colo. — A day many have been waiting years for, finally arrived Thursday as opening statements began in the trial for the a man accused of carrying out a mass shooting inside of a Boulder King Soopers.
10 people were murdered at the store on Table Mesa Dr. in March 2021.
The trial was delayed several times over questions of the suspect's competency. During opening statements, the defense said it does not dispute the defendant killed 10 innocent people. Instead, they say he was in the throes of a psychotic episode the day of the shooting.
While the trial continues into what will likely be weeks with mentions of the horrific details, it will likely be extremely painful for those who call Boulder home and those related to the 10 victims.
"It's telling the stories again," said Kate Parker, a therapist with the Boulder Strong Resource Center. "It's been three and a half years. It's a long time and people have been processing it in different ways and so to hear it again and also hearing different t even heard. It just surge again."
She is one of several therapists with the Boulder Strong Resource Center who will spend time inside of the Boulder courthouse to help those attending the trial.
"It's hard to watch. It's hard to be a part of this," Parker said. "We're there to provide some supportive counseling and support to also family members that cannot fit into the courtrooms or do not want to sit in the courtrooms."
Parker told Denver7 the start of the trial could bring a resurgence of feelings some may have.
"We imagine with the news and all the publicity of this is going to stir up some emotions for some folks," she said.
That's the case for Joshua Selvin, the general manager at Abo's Pizza in Boulder, which is right next to the Table Mesa King Soopers.
Selvin was working at the pizza shop three and a half years ago on the day of the shooting.
"A couple officers came down and talked to me and they needed a place to take the survivors before the CU donated buses took them to a safety center and so they all came into Abo's here," he said. "I remember very vividly the the faces of everybody and the shock and fear and yeah we just have so much empathy and sympathy for those people."
Boulder King Soopers Shooting
These are the 10 victims of the Boulder King Soopers shooting
He told Denver7 that empathy lives on. He added the heaviness of the trial was felt throughout Boulder on Thursday.
"Today is definitely one where it's, it's kind of a realizing that it's, it's still something we're talking about and kind of bringing it back into the forefront," he said.
Though, he said he felt as if the start of the trial represented the start of justice and potentially healing.
Parker adding the same thought.
"I also think it's healing," he said. "I just wanna say some of the feelings that you're feeling, you could be feeling anger, you could be feeling, as I said, healing, you could be feeling stressed, you could be feeling a lot of different things and all those emotions are normal."
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