The brother of a Colorado man who shot dead 10 people in a Boulder grocery store on Monday described his brother or sister as deeply upset.
Police identified the grocery store warden as 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who was shot through the leg and arrested after officers arrived at the scene of the shooting.
Mr. Alissa’s brother talked to him The Daily Beast, who calls him “very antisocial” and paranoid.
“When he had lunch with my sister in a restaurant, he said: ‘People are in the parking lot, they are looking for me,’ ‘said brother Ali Aliwi Alissa, 34. “She went out, and there was no one there. We did not know what was going on in his head. ”
He said his brother was outgoing before, but he became antisocial after being exposed to bullying in high school. He does not believe that his brother’s attack was a political statement of any kind.
‘[It was] not a political statement at all, it’s a mental illness, ‘he said. “The man used to bully a lot in high school, he was like an outgoing child, but after he went to high school and was bullied a lot, he started getting antisocial.”
According to CNN, the family emigrated to Syria in 2002.
Mr Alissa’s brother said he was not openly political or religious, and that he was shocked by the killings.
“The whole thing surprised me,” he said. ‘I would never have thought he would do such a thing. I never thought he would kill. I still can not believe it. I’m really sad about the lives he wasted, and I feel sorry for all those families … We lost a brother even though he’s the killer. ‘
The Denver Post discovered court records of 2017 in which an incident was set out in which Mr. Alissa, then 18, attacked a classmate at his high school. According to the report, he hit his classmate in the head without warning, and after the boy fell to the ground, Mr. Alissa continued to attack him. According to the affidavit from the case, the classmate suffered cuts and bruises to his head.
Mr. Alissa is charged with third-degree assault for the incident, and was sentenced to two months probation and 48 hours community service.
The newspaper also spoke to some of Alissa’s former wrestling teammates, describing him as short-sighted and violent.
Dayton Marvel, a former teammate, said ‘he was quite scary to be’ and recounted an incident in 2018 in which he had an outburst and threatened to kill people during a match within the team.
“In his last year of wrestling to see who makes the university, he lost his game and thanked the team and shouted in the wrestling room that he would like to kill everyone,” said Mr. Marvel said. “Nobody believed him. We were all just crazy about it, but nobody did anything about it. ”
Another teammate, Angel Hernandez, said Mr Alissa got into a fistfight with another wrestler after the match after the wrestler teased him for losing.
Mr. Marvel said Alissa was often paranoid about people harassing him for harassment because he was Muslim.
“He would talk that he was a Muslim and how anyone would try something, he would file a hate crime and say they were inventing it,” he said. Marvel said. “It was a crazy deal. I just know he was quite a nice kid until something drove him crazy, and whatever drove him crazy, he went over the edge – way too far. ‘
Investigators spoke to the shooter and said they were still collecting statements. They said he lived in Arvada, Colorado, and lived most of his life in the United States.
A Facebook page of an Ahmad Al Issa, who has since been removed, said the owner was born in Syria in 1999 and was a wrestler at Arvada West High School.
Entries on the social media page indicate that the individual is very interested in martial arts. wrestling and kickboxing.
The page owner apparently studied computer engineering at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. A 2019 post simply reads “#NeedAGirlfriend.”
In another message from when he was in high school, he expressed the belief that he was being persecuted. He said he believed he was ‘certainly’ part of racism ‘, but’ I also believe that someone is spreading rumors about me that are false. ‘
The page was removed within an hour after Mr. Alissa was named the shooter.
The shooter was charged with ten counts of first-degree murder, and was checked in Boulder County Jail after being treated for his wounds.
epa09092007 An undated picture for the handing out of a handout released by Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa’s Boulder Police Department, who was charged with ten counts of first-degree murder after allegedly killing ten people, including a police officer at King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, USA March 23, 2021. Boulder police have released the names of all ten victims as Denny Strong, 20, Neven Stanisic, 23, Rikki Olds, 25, Tralona Bartkowiak, 49 , Suzanne Fountain, 59, Teri Leiker, 51, Eric Talley, 51, Kevin Mahoney (61), Lynn Murray (62) and Jody Waters (65). EPA / BOULDER POLICE DEPARTMENT / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO SALES
(EPA)
Investigators believe Alissa acted alone.
Law enforcement officers conducted a search in the home of Mr. Alissa did, where they found other weapons, according to CNN.
According to a police statement, officers intercepted a woman leaving the house who they said was an extended family member. The woman was recently married to one of Alissa’s family members and told detectives she had seen the shooter playing in the house with a “machine gun” two days earlier.
According to The Associated Press, investigators believe the shooter bought his rifle, an AR-15-style pistol fitted with an armrest, six days before the attack.
Police have not yet identified a motive in the shooting.
” As for the suspect, officers were sent to Kings Soopers on Monday, March 22, around 2:40 p.m. They arrived on the scene within minutes and immediately entered the store and involved the suspect. There was a change. The suspect was shot and a number of other officers were injured, “said Maris Herold, Boulder police chief.
The police chief said her department was working with state and federal authorities to continue the investigation.
“We are committed to the state, local and federal authorities for a thorough investigation and we will justify each of these families,”
The victims of the King Sooper mass shooting in Colorado have also been identified by police.
Ten victims were identified overnight by the Boulder County coroner’s office. The victims of the shooting were identified as:
Denny Stong, 20; Nevin Stanasic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker (51); Eric Talley (51); Kevin Mahoney (61); Lynn Murray (62); Jody Waters, 65.
One of the victims, Boulder police officer Eric Talley, was killed in the attack. He was the first officer on the scene after the attack began.
Another victim was found in a car in the parking lot. The individual apparently parked next to the shooter when he arrived there.
Ms Herold said Mr. Talley had seven children. “Our hearts go out to all the victims who died during this senseless violent death,” Herold said.