Accused Boulder Shooter Bought Gun 6 Days Before Attack, and Ga. Suspect Got Weapon That Same Day

The 21-year-old man accused of murdering 10 people at a Boulder, Colo., supermarket on Monday afternoon allegedly obtained the weapon he used less than a week before the attack, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

Ahmad Alissa allegedly purchased a Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic pistol on March 16, just six days before the deadly attack at the King Soopers market in Boulder, reads the affidavit.

The Boulder mass shooting occurred six days after a gunman allegedly killed eight people in the Atlanta area at three separate Asian spas. Georgia authorities have said the suspect in that shooting obtained the gun he used the same day of the shootings, which was March 16.

The Denver Post reports the gun used by the suspect would have been illegal under an assault weapon ban Boulder passed in 2018 that a judge had recently blocked.

RELATED: Assault Weapons Ban Was Blocked by Boulder Judge Just 10 Days Before Supermarket Shooting: Report

A motive for the mass shooting remains unknown, as the suspect refused to answer questions from investigators. He did, however, ask to speak to his mother. It was unclear if police granted that request.

The affidavit states the suspect was convicted of misdemeanor assault in 2018, after attacking a fellow high school classmate.

According to the affidavit, the suspect allegedly shot at people in cars in the store's parking lot before going into King Soopers and continuing to shoot people.

Relatives said that the suspect had been "playing with a gun" days before the massacre, according to the affidavit.

The suspect was taken into custody after a brief standoff with police.

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He was shot, and the bullet that hit him entered and exited his right thigh, the affidavit states.

Monday's mass shooting occurred less than a week after eight people were fatally shot at three separate Atlanta-area spas by a single shooter.

The victims from the Boulder attack were identified as Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Officer Eric Talley, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.

The suspect was taken into custody at the scene of the shooting. He has yet to enter pleas to the charges he faces, which include one count of criminal attempt for murder in the first-degree.

At this point, he has no attorney of record who could comment on his behalf.

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