The brother of a Colorado man who shot and killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder on Monday described his brother as deeply disturbed.
Police identified the warehouse sniper as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, who was shot in the leg and taken into custody after police arrived at the shooting site.
Mr. Alissa’s brother spoke to The Daily Beast, calling it “very anti-social” and paranoid.
“When he was having lunch with my sister at a restaurant, he said, ‘People are in the parking lot, they are looking for me,'” said Brother Ali Aliwi Alissa, 34. “She left and there was no one. We didn’t know what was going on in his head. “
He said his brother was already an extrovert, but he became antisocial after he was bullied in high school. He does not believe that his brother’s attack was a political statement of any kind.
“[It was] it is by no means a political statement, it is a mental illness, ”he said. “The guy used to be bullied a lot in high school, he was like an outgoing boy, but after he went to high school and suffered a lot of bullying, he started to become antisocial.”
According to CNN, the family emigrated from Syria to the United States in 2002.
Alissa’s brother said he was not openly political or religious and that he was shocked by the deaths.
“The whole thing surprised me,” he said. “I never would have thought that he would do such a thing. I never thought he was going to kill. I still can’t believe it. I am very sad for the lives he wasted and I am sorry for all those families … We lost a brother, even though he was the murderer. “
The Denver Post discovered court records from 2017 detailing an incident in which Mr. Alissa, then 18, attacked a classmate at his school. According to the report, he punched his colleague in the head without warning and, after the boy fell to the ground, Mr. Alissa continued to attack him. The colleague suffered cuts and bruises on his head, according to a statement from the case.
Mr. Alissa was charged with third-degree assault for the incident and was sentenced to two months probation and 48 hours of community service.
The newspaper also spoke to some of Alissa’s former fighting buddies, who described him as temperamental and violent.
Dayton Marvel, a former teammate, said “it was kind of scary to be around” and reported an incident in 2018 in which he had an explosion and threatened to kill people during a team match.
“In his senior year, during the fights to see who gets to the varsity team, he really lost the match and left the team and shouted in the fight room that he was going to kill everyone,” said Marvel. “Nobody believed him. We were all kind of scared about it, but nobody did anything about it. “
Another teammate, Angel Hernandez, said that Alissa started fighting with another fighter after the fight after the fighter teased him for losing.
Marvel said that Alissa used to be paranoid about people who persecuted him for being a Muslim.
“He talked about being a Muslim and how, if someone tried something, he would register a hate crime and say they were making it up,” said Marvel. “It was crazy. I just know that he was a very nice boy until something made him angry, and so whatever made him angry, he went to the limit – too far. “
Investigators spoke to the shooter and said they were still collecting statements. They said he is from Arvada, Colorado, and has lived most of his life in the United States.
A Facebook page belonging to an “Ahmad Al Issa” that has already been deleted said that the owner was born in 1999 in Syria and was a fighter at Arvada West High School.
Posts on the social media page suggest that the individual was very interested in martial arts. wrestling and kickboxing.
The owner of the page apparently studied computer engineering at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. A 2019 post simply said “#NeedAGirlfriend”.
In another post from when he was in high school, he expressed the belief that he was being persecuted. He said he believed his segmentation was “partly racism, for sure”, but added “I also believe that someone has spread rumors about me that are false”.
The page was deleted an hour after Mr. Alissa was named a sniper.
The sniper was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and was admitted to Boulder County Jail after receiving treatment for his injuries.
epa09092007 Undated reserve image 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 released the names of all ten victims such 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 / HOSTEL ONLY FOR EDITORIAL / NO SALES USE
(EPA)
The investigators believe that Mr. Alissa acted alone.
Police officers searched Alissa’s home, where they found other weapons, according to CNN.
According to a police statement, the police intercepted a woman leaving her home, whom they determined to be a relative. The woman had recently married one of Mr. Alissa’s relatives and told detectives she saw the sniper playing with a “machine gun” inside the house two days earlier.
According The Associated Press, investigators believe the shooter bought his weapon, a modified AR-15 pistol with a cuff, six days before the attack.
Police have not yet identified the reason for the shooting.
“Regarding the suspect, at approximately 2:40 pm on Monday, March 22, the officers were dispatched to Kings Soopers. They arrived at the scene in minutes and immediately entered the store and involved the suspect. There was an exchange of fire. The suspect was shot and several other policemen were injured, ”said Boulder police chief Maris Herold.
The delegate said her department is working with state and federal authorities to continue the investigation.
“We are committed to state, local and federal authorities for a thorough investigation and will do justice to each of these families,”
Victims of the King Sooper mass shooting in Colorado were also identified by the police.
10 victims were identified overnight by the Boulder County Coroner 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 Department officer Eric Talley, was killed in the attack. He was the first officer to arrive at the scene after the attack began.
Another victim was found in a car in the parking lot. The individual was apparently parked next to the sniper when he arrived.
Mrs. Herold said that Mr. Talley had seven children. “Our hearts are with all the victims killed during this senseless act of violence,” said Herold.