AHMAD Al Aliwi Alissa has been identified as the suspect accused of gunning down 10 people at the King Spooers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado on Monday, March 22.
On March 23, Boulder, Colorado officials announced that Alissa is being charged with 10 counts of murder in the first degree.
Who is Boulder, Colorado shooter Ahmad Alissa?
Little is known about Alissa, 21, however, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold named Alissa as the shooter during an 8.30am press conference on March 23.
According to officials, Alissa is from Arvada, Colorado, just 20 miles south of Boulder.
Investigators said Alissa suffered a leg injury and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Officials have not revealed a motive for the shooting.
At the March 23 press conference, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis called the incident a "terror for all of us".
"This is real horror and terror for all of us. We simply can't let this be accepted," Polis said.
"It’s been a painful year, as we sit here once again, surrounded by seemingly incomprehensible loss.”
Footage from the March 22 shooting showed a shirtless Alissa covered in blood being led away in handcuffs.
The Boulder Police Department confirmed nine people died at the King Soopers grocery store on Table Mesa Drive.
What did Alissa's brother say about him?
Ali Aliwi, the shooters brother, told described his sibling as "very anti-social" and paranoid.
Ali Aliwi, 34, told The Daily Beast that authorities searched his house all night after the shooting.
Ali described that in high school his brother would say he's "being chased, someone is behind him, someone is looking for him".
“When he was having lunch with my sister in a restaurant, he said, ‘People are in the parking lot, they are looking for me.’ She went out, and there was no one.
"We didn’t know what was going on in his head,” Ali said, admitting that he believes his brother is mentally ill.
Who were the ten victims in the shooting?
The ten victims have been identified as:
- Denny Strong, 20
- Neven Stoanisic, 23
- Rikki Olds, 25
- Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
- Suzanne Fountain, 59
- Terri Leikre, 51
- Police officer Eric Talley, 51
- Kevin Mahoney, 61
- Lynn Murry, 62
- Jody Waters, 65
Police officer Talley was a dad of seven kids as young as five.
He was one of the first on the scene and was gunned down as he raced inside to tackle the killer minutes after the rampage began at 2:30pm.
Mayor Sam Weaver described Talley as a truly heroic public servant and said "we can never thank Officer Talley or his family enough for his sacrifice".
Last night Boulder cops lined up to salute their slain colleague Officer Talley, who quit his IT career to join the force in 2010.
His sister Kirstin posted a photo of them as children as she paid tribute on Twitter.
She said: "My heart is broken. I cannot explain how beautiful he was and what a devastating loss this is to so many.
"Fly high my sweet brother. You always wanted to be a pilot (damn color blindness). Soar."
Dad Homer said Eric “took his job as a police officer very seriously”.
“He loved his kids and his family more than anything,” he added.
Homer said his son had become a police officer at the age of 40, and was “looking for a job to keep himself off of the front lines”.
He continued: “He didn’t want to put his family through something like this and he believed in Jesus Christ.”
Rikki Olds was named as one of the victims in online posts by her family.
“We lost our beloved Rikki Olds to the monster who shot up the king soopers in Boulder CO yesterday may his rotten a** fry and burn in hell,” aunt Lori Olds wrote on Facebook.
How did witnesses describe the scene?
Witnesses said a man in tactical gear was silent as he carefully picked off his victims with a rifle in the parking lot before moving inside the store.
“He just came in and started shooting,” one shopper told The Denver Post.
Another said the gunman “let off a couple of shots, then was silent, and then he let off a couple more. He wasn’t spraying.”
Sarah Moonshadow, 42, said: “He shot right at us. I didn’t look. I just ran.”
She fled outside with her 21-year-old son, still clutching the strawberries they had just bought at the checkout.
Moonshadow told Denver's ABC7 she saw a victim lying on the ground outside and ran over to help.
She said through tears: “My son grabbed me by my coat and said, ‘No, we can’t help him. We gotta go.’
“I wanted to try to help that guy in the road and I couldn't because he was just too close and we had to get away.”
Another shopper, James Graham, said he could smell gunpowder as he ran from the store.
He said: “I probably heard 30 shots. It was just pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
“It was the most terrifying event I’ve ever been through.
"I mean, I’ve been through an active shooter drill, but… This happened so fast, and it was so loud… I’m still in shock over it."
YouTube live stream video filmed by a shopper showed bodies strewn inside and outside the supermarket as gunshots are heard in the store.
Dean Schiller's distressing footage showed a person slumped on a ramp outside the entrance, and another face down in the parking lot.
A third victim is seen lying motionless inside the store, slumped against a display stand.
"God dammit!", Dean says as a series of gun shots can be heard from further inside and he starts to run. "I'm f***ing getting away guys."
He then calls to a passerby who is checking on one of the victims: "There's a shooter, active shooter! Get away!"
The weapon used is believed to be an AR-15-style rifle, a senior law enforcement source told CNN.
Source: Read Full Article
