Boulder Shooting Suspect Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa Was Short-Tempered, Violent, Former Teammates Say

The 21-year-old Arvada man arrested in Monday’s mass shooting at a Boulder King Sooper’s was violent, short-tempered and paranoid during high school, his former classmates said Tuesday.

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is suspected of killing 10 people at the grocery store Monday when he walked in around 2:30 p.m. and began shooting, according to law enforcement. He was taken into custody about an hour later and was shot in the leg during the incident.

Alissa was hospitalized for treatment and is expected to be transported to the Boulder County Jail Tuesday to face 10 counts of first-degree murder.

“He was kind of scary to be around,” said Dayton Marvel, who graduated from Arvada West High School in 2018 and was on the wrestling team with Alissa. Alissa once had an outburst and threatened to kill people during an intra-team match, Marvel said.

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{snip} Another teammate, Angel Hernandez — who lives in Arvada and graduated from Arvada West in 2019 — said Alissa got into a fight in the parking lot after the match.

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Hernandez said Alissa frequently appeared to be paranoid about perceived slights against him, and Marvel said Alissa was often concerned about being targeted because of his Muslim faith.

“He would talk about him being Muslim and how if anybody tried anything, he would file a hate crime and say they were making it up,” Marvel said. {snip}

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In 2017, Alissa, then 18, attacked a classmate at Arvada West High School, according to an affidavit filed in the case. He punched the classmate in the head without warning, and when the boy fell to the ground, Alissa continued to punch him. The classmate suffered bruises and cuts to his head, according to the affidavit.

Witnesses told police they didn’t see or hear any reason for Alissa to attack the classmate. Alissa told officers that the classmate “had made fun of him and called him racial names weeks earlier,” according to the affidavit.

He was convicted of misdemeanor assault in 2018 and was sentenced to two months of probation and 48 hours of community service.

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Arvada Police Detective Dave Snelling confirmed Tuesday the local department had at least two interactions with Alissa over the past several years including a case of criminal mischief. {snip}

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On a Facebook page that appeared to belong to Alissa, the user posted in 2019 that he believed his former high school was hacking his cell phone. In a comment to someone who asked why the school would do that, he blamed racism.

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