Editing Ahmad Alissa (section)

== Biography ==

=== Early Life ===
Alissa's family immigrated to the U.S. in 2002 and moved to Arvada in 2014. Al-Issa's older brother said that Al-Issa has a history of paranoid, disturbed, and antisocial behavior that developed after Al-Issa was bullied in high school, and his brother was concerned for his mental health. Al-Issa was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2018 for punching a classmate at Arvada West High School. He pleaded guilty to an assault charge in relation to the incident, received a year of probation, and was ordered to undergo 48 hours of community service.

=== The Shooting ===
The shooting began shortly after 2:30 p.m. MDT (20:30 UTC) when a gunman entered the parking lot of a King Soopers supermarket and began to fire at people. He was described by witnesses as wearing an "armored" vest and holding a "rifle", which turned out to be a semi-automatic Ruger AR-556 pistol that was used in the shooting; he also carried a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. He was first seen by employees and customers who watched him shoot at customers in the parking lot before turning and entering the store. At the time, there were at least 115 people inside the building and at least 25 others in the parking lot.

The first victim was a repairman who was killed in a van parked next to the gunman's vehicle. The gunman then walked towards the store; along the way, he killed another person in the parking lot who was trying to flee, shooting him multiple times. Next, he killed two more people while entering the store through its eastern entrance.

A man waiting in line with his family for his COVID-19 vaccine at the store's pharmacy witnessed the gunman shoot a woman at the front of the line before finding safety in a coat closet with his family. Some customers and employees reached safety through a back exit for the supermarket. Some were praised for their actions in helping evacuate and hide individuals away from the gunman.

At 2:33 p.m., the Boulder Police Department began receiving calls of a person with a "patrol rifle" in the area and shots being fired. Witnesses at the scene reported hearing anywhere from ten to thirty shots fired in rapid succession by the gunman. At 2:34 p.m., a Boulder Police dispatcher provided an initial description of the gunman as "a white male, middle-aged, dark hair, beard, black vest, short-sleeved shirt." The first three responding officers arrived at the scene within two minutes of the first calls and entered the store within 30 seconds of their arrival; at around 2:37 p.m., one of the other officers radioed in to say that they were going in. Running towards gunfire, one of the officers, Eric Talley, was shot and killed by the gunman. He was the last victim in the shooting, according to Boulder police.