Man from Denver convicted of murdering woman with an AK-47

• Michael Close had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
• He was accused of using an AK-47 to kill Isabella Thallas, and wound her boyfriend as they walked their dog.
• Jury concluded that he knew what he was doing when he opened fire.

On Thursday, a man was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder after using an AK-47 to kill a woman and injure her boyfriend while they were walking their dog.

Prosecutors claimed Michael Close, 38, had a “verbal exchange” with Isabella Thallas, 21, and Darian Simon on June 10, 2020, while they were encouraging their dog to relieve itself outside Close’s apartment near Coors Field.

Close had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but jurors determined that he knew exactly what he was doing when he opened fire, according to The Denver Post.

Close yelled out the window at the couple as they told the dog to “go potty” before grabbing the AK-47 from a friend who was a Denver police sergeant. Prosecutors claimed he fired 24 shots.

Sonja Prins, Close’s public defender, stated that Close had a mental breakdown, citing an abusive childhood, a string of job losses, a breakup, and the Covid-19 pandemic as factors in his poor mental health at the time of the shooting.

Close, as well as members of Thallas’ family, sobbed as the verdict was read. Anna Thallas, Thallas’ mother, said she was numb.

“We’d been waiting 212 years for this day, and what happened inside just flew by… almost as fast as my daughter was slaughtered,” she sobbed. “And our lives were forever altered.”

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