Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa's criminal past: Boulder shooter threatened to kill schoolmate, punched student in the head
It has now come to light that the suspect in custody for the Boulder mass shooting is 21-year-old Syrian man Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who in fact, does have a past criminal record. Alissa was sentenced to probation and 48 hours of community service in 2017, after attacking his high school classmate. The incident occurred at Arvada West High School, in the city of Arvada just outside Denver. It is not Alissa's only run-in with the law though - court documents reveal traffic infractions the same year. These are the only two known criminal records in Alissa's name. It is unclear why Alissa shot and killed 10 people at the King Soopers supermarket, with police yet to reveal a motive.
Alissa was arrested shortly after the incident, which has shocked the nation. Here is everything we know about Alissa's criminal records.
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Alissa once had an outburst and threatened to kill people
According to details obtained by Colorado Sun, Jeffco Public Schools has a record of Alissa attending Arvada West High School between March 2015 and May 2018. He graduated in 2018, after being charged with a misdemeanor. In 2017, Alissa walked up to a classmate and “cold-cocked” him in the head. When the individual fell to the floor, Alissa got on top of him and punched him several more times, in the head.
It is unclear who the victim was in the case. It was unclear why Alissa attacked the individual, but documents show that the victim had made fun of Alissa and called him racial names weeks earlier. The assault resulted in several bruises and cuts. When tried, Alissa pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and was sentenced to probation and 48 hours of community service as a result.
The same year, Alissa was ticketed for traffic infractions and pleaded guilty to "violating a driver’s license restriction". It is unclear what restriction he violated, as no more information could be obtained.
The Denver Post reported that "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. The details of that case were not immediately available." Apart from these, Alissa has also had several run-ins with classmates when at high school. During his time at school, he was a member of the school's wrestling team and often got into confrontations with teammates. The Post report noted that "Alissa once had an outburst and threatened to kill people during an intra-team match". A former teammate of his confirmed to the Post that Alissa also got into a physical fight with a teammate after a match, allegedly after being teased.
Alissa "always suspected someone was behind him, someone was chasing him"
He was reportedly very paranoid about being targeted over his faith and often threatened to file complaints of hate crime according to classmates. Despite that, they also said he was a "joyful" and "friendly" person, but would quickly lose his temper. Those characteristics were confirmed by Alissa's brother Ali Alissa in an interview with CNN. According to the brother, Alissa "always suspected someone was behind him, someone was chasing him."
Prior to his Facebook page being taken down, CNN was able to recover posts made by Alissa that showed he believed his phone was being hacked. "Just curious what are the laws about phone privacy because I believe my old school (a west) was hacking my phone," he posted on March 18, 2019. When asked by classmates, he replied, "I believe part racism for sure. But I also believe someone spread rumors about me which are false and maybe that set it off."
The family emigrated from Syria in 2002 and has lived in Arvada since 2014. Ali Alissa owns a restaurant near their home on West 65th Place. The police have not yet confirmed if Alissa's paranoia has anything to do with the shooting. He reportedly has not talked to police and asked for his mother when arrested.