When Boulder Police Department officers Jenny Schmeits and Richard Smith heard the tonal alert telling law enforcement that there was an active shooter at King Soopers, Schmeits was just on her second week of field training.

Both officers recalled their experiences responding to the March 22, 2021 mass shooting that took the lives of 10 people at the King Soopers on Table Mesa Drive in Boulder to the jury on Tuesday, as the murder trial of Ahmad Alissa continued into its fourth day of testimony.

As Schmeits and Smith arrived at the King Soopers, they said they noticed images they had never be able to shake.

“I saw several victims laying in the parking lot,” Schmeits said. “Lots of people yelling and screaming.”

The officers then teamed up with a group of others outside of the building, forming a “stack” — or collection of officers with various tools — to enter the building.

The team included more than seven officers with various types of guns and Bryan Plyter of the Boulder Police Department leading the charge with a ballistic shield.

“We needed to stop the threat. We needed to stop the killing,” Schmeits said.

“At the same time,” she testified, her voice beginning to quiver, “when I was being shot at, I felt like, maybe I wasn’t going to make it home that day.”

Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty showed a security camera photo to the court, showing seven officers standing behind Plyter, just inside of one of the entrances to the grocery store.

Alissa looked down at the defense attorney’s table while the photo was shown to the jury, seemingly scribbling on or reading paperwork with an orange highlighter.

The 25-year-old faces dozens of charges, including 10 for first-degree murder, 38 for attempted first-degree murder, one for first-degree assault and six for possessing large-capacity magazines in connection to the mass shooting.

Plyter noted that when he heard his fellow officers on the radio, shivers went down his spine. He knew this wasn’t a drill — this wasn’t a fake call or false report, he said.

“When somebody is hurting other people, we have to go no matter what,” he said.

Plyter, with shield in one hand and pistol in the other, led the group of officers into the store around 2:30 p.m.

Eric Talley, 51, an officer with the Boulder Police Department for 11 years, was the first officer to respond to the shooting and was shot close to the entry way.

Former Boulder Police lead investigator Sarah Cantu walked the jury through security camera footage and officers’ body-worn camera footage, showing the suspect shooting Talley twice and other officers retreating to the parking lot.

“The first thing I saw was Officer Talley. He was down. I saw a pool of blood next to his head,” Plyter told the jury about entering the store. “I realized that we lost one of our own and I made the decision that I was probably going to lose my own life, too.”

“It was instinctual to say ‘Hang on buddy. We’re coming for ya,’” Smith said about seeing Talley. “Though I knew he was already beyond saving.”

When the officers moved into the store, the gunman fired their way, shattering the vestibule glass behind them. Some officers were sprayed with glass.

Brandon Braun, a sergeant with the University of Colorado Boulder Police Department, was hit in the face by the glass, causing him to bleed. He also couldn’t hear out of his left ear, causing him to believe that he had been shot in the face, he told the jury.

Braun then moved to the back of the store to help around 30 bystanders leave and get to safety.

“They were very distraught, very unsettled,” Braun said.

Officers then commandeered Regional Transportation District buses to move witnesses safely to the local police station.

Plyter and a few other officers continued moving forward, while others fell back. One officer, laying prone, exchanged gunfire with the suspect down the aisle.

An officer told Plyter that his ballistic shield was not rated for rifle fire. The gunman appeared to have a rifle. Plyter dropped back, moving to the back door of the store to help keep eye on the back entrance until Boulder SWAT team arrived.

Talley’s body was covered with an American flag, as officers surrounded him outside of the store, waiting for the coroner’s office to arrive, according to Boulder County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jeff Brunkow.

Brunkow then saw Alissa being escorted from the building.

“He was only wearing his boxers and some blood was coming off of his leg,” he testified.

“Do you see that person in court today?” Dougherty asked him.

“I do,” Brunkow said, pointing toward Alissa.

Sgt. Larry Ottosen, with the Broomfield Police Department, was with another group of officers entering the building with a ballistic shield.

Upon entry, Ottosen saw Alissa allegedly walking toward them with his hands up and empty. He was wearing nothing but his underwear, according to Ottosen.

Alissa followed all directions to get down and get back up, Ottosen said.

Dougherty then asked if Alissa seemed to be hearing voices, talking to people that weren’t there or acting erratically. Ottosen said that he was not.

The sergeant then found the suspect’s clothing, body armor, a handgun and a rifle in a nearby aisle.

The prosecution’s focus on Tuesday remained on describing the events leading up to and the police situation during the shooting that killed Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Teri Leiker, 51; Boulder Police Ofc. Eric Talley, 51; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and, Jody Waters, 65.

The prosecution needs to prove that Alissa, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, was not insane and did know right from wrong when committing the shooting. His defense attorneys have admitted to jurors he was the shooter.

“I used to think about it all of the time and think of anything I could have done differently,” Angela Peacock, a worker at King Soopers said about the shooting.

Alissa walked right by Peacock, around 8 feet ahead. At first, Peacock and another worker noted that he wasn’t wearing a mask during the days of COVID. Then, she saw the gun. She added that Alissa was focused and determined when he walked into the store, looking straight ahead.

Kathryn Herold, Alissa’s defense attorney from the Colorado Public Defender’s Office, pointed out that Alissa walked right by Peacock, wearing a bright yellow sweatshirt, and did not shoot at her. Furthermore, he did not open fire and “spray” bullets when entering the store, something Peacock was surprised about.

“When I was laying on the ground, all I thought about was how to save myself. I was thinking of my god and praying,” Khagendra Malla, a cashier at King Soopers during the shooting, told the jury through a Nepalese interpreter.

Prosecutors then showed a security camera photo from inside the store, showing Malla kneeling down at the end of his register, while Alissa walks nearly 5 feet behind him, rifle in tow.

Alissa read or wrote on a piece of paper while the photo was shown to jurors.