Walmart shooter reportedly lived with stack of Bibles, no furniture. Why isn't he a terrorist?

Daily Kos Staff

Friday November 03, 2017 · 2:22 PM PDT

2017/11/03 · 14:22

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Suspected domestic terrorist Scott Ostrem seems to have been missed by our current white supremacist in chief while he tweets about radical Islamic terrorism. Ostrem was arrested Thursday as the main suspect in three murders at a Colorado Walmart Wednesday night. Ostrem allegedly pulled out a handgun and began shooting people in the checkout line.

Scott Ostrem, 47, was told by Adams County District Judge Ted C. Tow III that the anticipated charges carry a sentence of life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Ostrem barely spoke during the hearing, responding only "yes when asked if he understood his rights.

After the hearing, District Attorney Dave Young declined comment on whether his office would seek the death penalty.

The Daily Beast spoke with neighbors of Ostrem and they had this to say about him:

Teresa Muniz says she gets a chill when she realizes her neighbor was on his way to commit America’s next horrific shooting. The “angry guy upstairs” drove to a nearby Walmart where witnesses say he walked in, calmly took out his handgun, and shot and killed three people waiting in line to pay. Neighbors described Ostrem as a bizarre, angry man who lived alone in an apartment with a stack of Bibles and virtually no furniture.

[...]

Hispanic residents said he was especially mean to them.

“He wouldn’t say nothing to us, but he talked to the only white couple who lives here,” Muniz said. “I don’t understand where that hatred comes from.”

There’s also this from ABC News.

Killed were Pamela Marques, 52, of Denver; Carlos Moreno, 66, of Thornton; and Victor Vasquez, 26, of Denver.

None were Walmart employees, and all were Hispanic.

Ostrem is white. Police have offered no possible motive for the shooting other than to say there was nothing to suggest it was related to terrorism. Young declined comment Friday about a motive.

If yelling “Allahu Akbar” means that you have become “radicalized” into becoming a religiously driven terrorist, maybe having four too many Bibles in your house and only attacking people of color might mean you’ve become a white supremacist Christian terrorist? But meanwhile, the media continues to wonder out loud about what this man’s possible motivation could be, with references to his failed attempts at creating a small business and declaring bankruptcy in 2015. Interestingly enough, Donald Trump has yet to weigh in on his traditional speculations about everything. I’m sure he will just call for the closure of all Christian churches seeing how so many white Christians keep killing Americans.

Walmart shooter reportedly lived with stack of Bibles, no furniture. Why isn't he a terrorist?

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