A 21-year-old Syrian-born man was identified Tuesday as the alleged Colorado supermarket shooter who killed 10 people including a police officer — with records revealing that he had posted online about “Islamophobia” and once cold-cocked a high school bully.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa of Arvada, Colo., now faces 10 counts of first-degree murder for the rampage he allegedly unleashed Monday afternoon in a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo., where some shoppers were out getting COVID-19 vaccines, officials said at a Tuesday briefing.
“We will hold the evildoer responsible to the full extent of the law for his actions,” said Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. “And we will always remember the victims of the King Soopers shooting.”
Alissa’s now-deleted Facebook page said he was “born in Syria in 1999 came to the USA in 2002,” the Daily Beast reported.
His account included postings about Islam, such as the faith’s prayers and religious holidays, and his apparent suspicions that he was under surveillance.
“Yeah if these racist islamophobic people would stop hacking my life phone and let me have a normal life I probably could,” he wrote in one July 2019 post, according to the Daily Beast.
In a different post, Alissa shared another person’s thoughts the day after the 2019 mosque massacres in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people.
“The Muslims at the #christchurch mosque were not the victims of a single shooter,” the reposted message reportedly read. “They were the victims of the entire Islamophobia industry that vilified them.”
Alissa’s identity was known to the FBI because he was linked to another individual under investigation by the bureau, law enforcement sources told the New York Times — though the report didn’t say who that person is, or what they were being probed for.
Alissa, who was shot in the leg and is hospitalized in stable condition, was expected to be transferred to a local jail Tuesday. Court documents released later in the day showed he had purchased a Ruger AR-556 pistol on March 16, and revealed chilling details from witnesses of the shooting.
Authorities have already interviewed Alissa, but they did not disclose Tuesday what, if anything, he said about his motive.
“Why did this happen?” asked Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty at the briefing. “We don’t have the answer to that yet, and the investigation is in its very early stages.”
But the alleged shooter’s older brother told the Daily Beast that he believes his sibling is mentally ill.
“When he was having lunch with my sister in a restaurant, he said, ‘People are in the parking lot, they are looking for me,’” Ali Aliwi Alissa, 34, told the outlet. “She went out, and there was no one. We didn’t know what was going on in his head.”
He described his brother as “very anti-social,” and said that when the alleged gunman was in high school, he would describe “being chased, someone is behind him, someone is looking for him.”
At the briefing, authorities said that Alissa appears to be the only suspect, and that he had no prior run-ins with local police.
But local Fox affiliate KDVR obtained court documents from 2017 showing that Alissa was busted for “cold cocking” a classmate at school.
The victim was left with bruising, swelling and cuts to the head from the assault, the outlet reported.
Alissa apparently snapped because the victim “had made fun of him and called him racial names weeks earlier,” according to the documents, which indicate Alissa pleaded guilty to assault in 2018.
Records also reportedly indicate that Alissa was busted a second time in 2018 for criminal mischief, though further details on that case, including its outcome, were not immediately available.
Alissa’s brother told The Daily Beast that, in addition to being mentally ill, his sibling had been bullied throughout high school.
“[It was] not at all a political statement, it’s mental illness,” Ali Aliwi Alissa said of the mass shooting. “The guy used to get bullied a lot in high school, he was like an outgoing kid but after he went to high school and got bullied a lot, he started becoming anti-social.”
A high school wrestling teammate of Alissa’s recalled his fiery temper.
“One thing I can tell you is he didn’t take losing very well,” the teammate, identified only as Conrad, told The Daily Beast. “He would throw his headgear, wouldn’t talk to the coaches when he lost. If I remember correctly, even cussed out one of the coaches one time.”
Still, Conrad told the outlet that he was surprised by the allegations.
The 10 victims were also identified at the press conference — including slain Boulder police officer Eric Talley.
They range in age from 20 to 65, according to Boulder Police Chief Maris Harold, who said the last body was removed from the scene at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Family members were notified about two hours later.
“I want to say to the community, I am so sorry this incident happened,” the chief said with tears in her eyes. “We are going to do everything in our power to make sure this suspect has a thorough trial and we do a thorough investigation.”
Doughtery said Talley, who was the first officer on scene, “died heroically.”
“He died charging into the line of fire to save people who were simply trying to live their lives and go food shopping,” he said. “And the man who gunned them down will be held fully responsible.
“The killer, his name will live in infamy,” said Dougherty. “But today, let us remember the victims.”
Meanwhile, US Rep. Joe Neguse, who represents Colorado’s Second District encompassing Boulder, decried other recent shootings in the state.
“This cannot be our new normal,” he said. “We should be able to feel safe in our grocery stores. We should be able to feel safe in our schools, in our movie theaters and in our communities. We need to see a change.”
