‘He went over the edge’: Friends describe suspect in Boulder shooting

The man accused of coldly opening fire in a supermarket, killing 10 people, reacted very differently when arrested as his chilling past is revealed.

The booking photo of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa.

A US man who is accused of carrying a Ruger AR-556 into a Colorado supermarket and allegedly opening fire has been described by those who knew him as short-tempered and capable of snapping at the smallest things.

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, has been charged with 10 counts of first degree murder over the massacre at King Soopers in South Boulder on Monday.

Police have accused the suspect of firing the semiautomatic weapon in the car park at about 2.30pm local time, then moving inside the store before he was shot in the leg.

He then allegedly removed the tactical gear, including a bulletproof vest, and walking backwards towards Colorado’s SWAT team.

As the community mourns the dead – including 51-year-old police officer Eric Talley – Mr Alissa’s former high school friends have described his dark side.

RELATED: How Boulder supermarket shooting unfolded

The booking photo of the alleged Boulder shooter.

Mr Alissa was shot in the leg by police before his arrest. Picture: Fox News

They say Mr Alissa, who graduated from Arvada West High School in Colorado in 2018, was part of the wrestling team but described him as “scary to be around”.

Former teammate Dayton Marvel told the Denver PostMr Alissa once threatened to kill people.

“His senior year, during the wrestle-offs to see who makes varsity, he actually lost his match and quit the team and yelled out in the wrestling room that he was, like, going to kill everybody,” Marvel told The Post.

“Nobody believed him. We were just all kind of freaked out by it, but nobody did anything about it.

“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. It was a crazy deal. I just know he was a pretty cool kid until something made him mad, and then whatever made him mad, he went over the edge – way too far.”

Another teammate, Angel Hernandez, said Mr Alissa was paranoid about people looking at him.

“He was always talking about (how) people were looking at him and there was no one ever where he was pointing people out,” Mr Hernandez said. “We always thought he was messing around with us or something.”

Police officers outside the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. Picture: Jason Connolly/AFP

On Mr Alissa’s Facebook page, which has since been removed, he repeatedly mentioned Islamophobia and criticised former president Donald Trump.

“Yeah if these racist Islamophobic people would stop hacking my phone and let me have a normal life I probably could,” he wrote in one 2019 post.

Mr Hernandez said that when he snapped, he was incapable of controlling his anger.

“You could tell there was a dark side in him. If he did get ticked off about something, within a split second, it was like if something takes over, like a demon. He’d just unleash all his anger.”

The 10 victims of the shooting were named as Denny Strong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; Jody Waters, 65; and Officer Eric Talley.

On his arrest, a sergeant asked Mr Alissa if there were any other suspects.

“The suspect did not answer questions, though he asked to speak to his mother,” the officer said.

Police said there was no indication that Mr Alissa was drunk or high on drugs, according to the affidavit. The alleged shooter told paramedics that “he was not using any medications”.

The exterior of King Soopers grocery store is seen the morning after a gunman opened fire. Picture: Chet Strange/Getty Images

At a media conference this morning, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold identified Mr Alissa as the main suspect in the shooting, and confirmed he had been taken to hospital for treatment. Mr Alissa was in a stable condition, and was moved to Boulder County Jail today.

“I want to say to the community, I am so sorry this incident happened,” a visibly emotional Chief Herold said.

“We are going to do everything in our power to make sure this suspect has a thorough trial and we do a thorough investigation.

“This is my community; I live here. And to have something like this happen so close to where you live, and to know the fear in the community, and to know that the officers sacrifice themselves, it’s heartbreaking.

According to court documents, Mr Alissa stripped off his tactical gear before giving himself up.

“Alissa had removed all of his clothing and was dressed only in shorts,” the affidavit says.

The document describes how the attack unfolded in the car park before carrying on inside.

“The suspect then walked up to the elderly man, stood over him and shot him multiple times.”

Shoppers are evacuated from a King Soopers grocery store. Picture: Chet Strange/Getty Images

In a livestreamed video of the attack which has since been taken offline, witness Dean Schiller described what was unfolding.

“We don’t know if there’s a shooter, active shooter somewhere,” he says in the video excerpt.

Asking what appears to be a store employee whether a gunman went into the store, the worker responds, “Yeah, he went in there.”

“He went in the store?” Mr Schiller asked.

“He went right down there,” the man responds.

“Oh, my God. Guys, we got people down inside King Soopers,” Mr Schiller says in the footage, starting another sentence before two gunshots cut him off.

A number of bodies were visible in the car park and inside the entrance to the store.