On March 23, after the Boulder, Colorado mass shooting in which ten people were killed, Facebook removed all access to the Facebook profile of the main suspect identified as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa. Screenshots of his Facebook profile started making rounds on social media networks that revealed a lot about his extremist ideology. According to the posts made by him over the years, he was a devout Muslim who often believed in conspiracy theories.
JUST N – Facebook has reportedly scrubbed the account of Ahmad Al-Issa, the suspect of the Boulder bloodbath. Screenshots: pic.twitter.com/lyENLQX3hS
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) March 23, 2021
Notably, his profile went missing not only from Facebook but also from internet archive websites, including Wayback machine, Archive.is and Google’s cache.
Alissa was reportedly born in Syria
The police did not reveal his country of origin, but his now-deleted profile had mentioned that he was born in Syria, and he had spent most of his life in the United States. His brother has claimed he may be suffering from ‘mental illness’. He claimed that he may have become ‘anti-social’ after his high school bullies ‘made fun of his name’ and for ‘being a Muslim’.
Alissa believed in conspiracy theories
According to his posts from his now-deleted profile, he often indulged in discussing conspiracy theories online. On March 16, 2019, he claimed that the shooter at Christ Church mosque was not a ‘single shooter’ but the victims were victims of Islamophobia.
He also believed that he was often attacked by racist Islamophobic people who were trying to hack his smartphone. On June 5, 2019, he wrote, “Yeah, if these racist islamophobic people would stop hacking my phone and let me have a normal life, I probably could.”
Alissa’s hate for former US President Trump
According to his posts, he hated former President Donald Trump. In the last few years, he had shared several posts abusing and criticizing him. On September 18, 2018, he wrote, “Trump [sic] such a d*ck”.
On the same day, he shared an article and wrote, “[Trump] inherited a growing economy and the unemployment rate was low the economy was on an upward spiral he won because of racism.”
Alissa was homophobic
Alissa was a firm believer of Islam and an open homophobic. In one of his posts, he wrote, “If straight people go to prison straight and come out gay doesn’t that mean that being gay is a choice.”
Facebook claims it has removed the profile to ward off copycat attempts of further radicalisation. His profile was removed under the Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy. The social media giant has also prevented other people from creating accounts with same name.
Alissa’s brother alleged he was mentally ill
Ali Aliwi Al-Issa, brother of Ahmad Al Issa, talked to The Daily Beast and claimed that he believed Ahmad was mentally ill. He alleged he was very anti-social and paranoid. He said during high school, Ahmad often complained that he was being chased and someone was looking for him all the time.
