Twelve Boulder County men and women are currently deciding the fate of the 25-year-old suspect in the Boulder mass shooting that left 10 victims dead three years ago.

Both the prosecution and defense made closing arguments Friday, ending the 11 days of witness testimonies and evidence describing the March 22, 2021 massacre at the King Soopers on Table Mesa Drive.

The jurors must now decide whether suspect Ahmad Alissa was criminally insane at the time of the shooting, following his diagnosis of schizophrenia and a heap of testimonies about his deteriorating mental state leading up to incident.

Alissa pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the 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. His defense attorneys never disputed that he was, in fact, the shooter, but argued that he did not know right from wrong at the time.

While the 20th Judicial District Court does not release the names of the jurors at the time of the trial, introductions during the jury selection at the end of August paint a variable picture of those selected to make the final decision.

A few of the jurors openly wept during the trial, especially when an eight-minute graphic video of the shooting was shown. Others winced throughout the various security camera videos shown.

Twentieth Judicial District Judge Ingrid Baake often thanked them for their attentiveness. Not one of the sixteen jury members missed a day of the trial.

The final 16 including four alternates were picked, but throughout trial, no one except for the attorneys and the judge knew who those alternates were.

Friday, those four of the original sixteen chosen jurors were released from deliberation duty. Judge Baake explained to the disappointed four that they were picked at random and reminded them that they could still fill in if one of the dozen jurors who are deliberating comes down with COVID. She told them not to discuss the case with anyone until after the verdict is read.

The 12 left include men and women stretching from a range of ages, with the youngest being a 21-year-old man who works in social media and the oldest being a 69-year-old woman who is a retired banker.

The careers of the jurors vary significantly, with a collection of special educators and behavioral specialists, retired teachers, data engineers and administrative assistants.

One juror is an attorney at a law firm in Denver, with her husband also a lawyer.

All of the jurors have lived in Colorado for over five years, with most being longtime residents of the Boulder area. They are all also highly educated: Nine out of the 12 have a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Regardless of their backgrounds, the 12 must decide whether Alissa’s mental state marred his ability to tell right from wrong, despite buying multiple guns and ammunition months before the shooting.

Deliberation will continue Monday, with a verdict possibly coming at the beginning of the week.

“Everyone deserves their day in court,” one of the jurors, a retired woman, said during jury selection.

The Denver Gazette reporter Carol McKinley contributed to this story.