Home Scandal and Gossip Why? Scott Ostrem Thornton Walmart shooter kills 3

Why? Scott Ostrem Thornton Walmart shooter kills 3

Christopher Koulouris: About author bio at bottom of article.
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Scott Ostrem
Pictured Scott Ostrem Thornton Walmart shooting victim, Victor Vasquez - with his two children.
Scott Ostrem
Pictured Scott Ostrem Thornton Walmart shooter and his three victims, Victor Vasquez, 26, Pamela Marques, 52, and Carlos Moreno, 66.

What led to Scott Allen Ostrem killing three shoppers at a Thornton, Colorado Walmart store? Had walked off work at a local roofing company earlier that day.  

Scott Allen Ostrem a 47 year old Colorado man who ‘nonchalantly’ walked into a Thornton, Walmart superstore killing three individuals has been charged with murder.

Killed were: father-of-two, Victor Vasquez, 26, Pamela Marques, 52, and grandfather,  Carlos Moreno, 66, after Ostrem opened gunfire at the discount store just on 6.10 pm, Wednesday evening.

Witnesses said Ostrem saying nothing as he randomly opened gunfire (up to six gunshots) upon entering the packed store. He then walked back out and fled the scene in a red, four-door Mitsubishi Mirage as stunned shoppers took cover reported the Denver Channel.

The gunman’s arrest came some fourteen hours later, near an apartment complex in Twin Lakes, circa seven miles south of the shooting. Ostrem’s capture came after police received a tip of the gunman living there. 

The tipster recognized Ostrem from surveillance footage which showed him entering the store and which police released late on Wednesday as they tried to find him. 

On Thursday morning, officers were already at the Samuel Park Apartments block when Ostrem drove past in his red, four-door Mitsubishi Mirage. They chased him for a mile and then arrested him by the side of the road. 

Scott Ostrem was a failed businessman with $58, 000 in debts.

Reports tell of Ostrem being a failed businessman with insurmountable credit card debts and a bad reputation with neighbors who described the man as ‘evil’. Neighbors said Ostrem was often seen walking around with a rifle bag slung over one shoulder reported the Denver Post. 

Of note, at the time of the shootings, Ostrem was in debt to the tune of $58, 000.

‘He made me nervous because he always had rifle in a case over his shoulder. I would know it was him. He was evil! Evil!’ Teresa Muniz, a neighbor said of Ostrem.

‘He didn’t seem to have anybody,’ added Muniz. ‘Being angry all the time. That’s what he seemed like, always angry.’

Others described him as ‘creepy’ and ‘paranoid’ and said he often was seen staring out of his window. 

A typical one-bedroom apartment in the building costs $800-a-month.

Camera crews were able to gaze into the man’s apartment room where they discovered Ostrem having four bibles, along with his work jacket.

Scott Ostrem
Pictured Scott Ostrem’s apartment residence, Samuel Park Apartments in Twin Lakes, Colorado.

Scott Ostrem sheet metal worker described as a good and quiet skilled worker.

It was also revealed that Ostrem had been working as a sheet metal fabricator for a local roofing company, B&M Roofing, in Erie and had inexplicably walked off the job at 9am on Wednesday morning without giving bosses any explanation. 

Colleagues said he did not seem angry when he suddenly stopped working.  

‘We’re bewildered,’ boss David Heidt told Fox News Denver.  

Heidt said Ostrem had worked in the company’s metal fabrication shop for the last three years without any problems. He went on to say, Ostrem was a good and quiet worker who was skilled at his craft of marking metal flashing for roofs.

Scott Allen Ostrem
Pictured, Scott Allen Ostrem.

Scott Allen Ostrem had a string of prior arrests and bankruptcies. 

In the past few years, Ostrem had gone from job to job after a string of failed business ventures. 

They include Ostrem Installation LLC which he founded in 2012 but was which was defunct the following November.

In June 2014, he founded MKA Electronics LLC but by September 2015, he filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy claim, saying he had just $140 to his name. 

He listed his assets as having a total value of $50,000 and his liabilities at between $50,000 and $100,000. 

Ostrem listed his income for the previous year as $47,028.00. He estimated that he more than $58,000 including credit card debt.

Ostrem’s criminal past is non-violent. The man’s first run in the law came in 1999 when he was arrested for resisting arrest. 

In 2013, he was arrested in the middle of the night for drunk driving after police saw him driving erratically. 

A police report obtained by the dailymail describes how he swayed ‘from side to side’ as he performed field sobriety tests.  At the time, he said he was unemployed.

The following year, he was arrested at a motel room for failing to appear in court to face the 2013 DUI charges. It is not known what that arrest was for or what it resulted in.

Scott Ostrem
Pictured, Scott Ostrem, Thornton, Colorado Walmart shooting victim, Victor Vasquez and his two children.

Scott Ostrem motive: Terrorism isn’t ruled out.

All three victims, lived locally in the town of Thornton, near Denver, with 26 year old man Victor Vasquez, a father of two young daughters, expecting a third child with his fiancee.

Police do not believe the shooting is related to terrorism, but they have not ruled anything out as a community seeks to understand what led to Scott Ostrem indiscriminately shooting at innocent people. 

To date cops have not said why Ostrem chose the Walmart store, while also saying there had been no proof he had ever worked at the retailer.

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