Police say Isaiah Williams spent his final minutes in full tactical gear, shooting at strangers and police, before turning the rifle on himself.
Two people were murdered, and five others injured after a seemingly random shooting spree at the Days Inn hotel near 27th Avenue and Deer Valley Road, on Sunday, August 28.
But his mother and father said they never suspected he would hurt others.
Surveillance cameras showed Isaiah Williams slowly walking out of the Days Inn in a steel-plated tactical vest and gas mask, while armed with an AR-15.
In the minutes that follow police say the 24-year-old tried to fire-bomb the Waffle House with a Molotov cocktail. Fortunately, the incendiary device never detonated.
He also killed two innocent people who just happened to drive into the parking lot during his indiscriminate shooting spree.
Surveillance showed Williams pointed his gun at four people inside the hotel lobby, but he never fired. A witness told police he also forced a man onto his knees, pointed the gun at him, but "for unknown reasons" never fired.
Towards the end of the spree, he fired dozens of shots at responding Phoenix officers, injuring two of them.
One officer was shot in the leg.
The other had shrapnel injuries to his head and face. He told investigators that blood “poured” down his face and into his eyes, momentarily blinding him. The officer "believed he had been shot" and referred to himself as “terrified” during the incident and thought he was going to die.
A few days after the shooting a close friend of Williams contacted police to tell him about his friend's final months.
The friend told detectives "Isaiah's social media posts became increasingly anti-government and anti-law enforcement."
He also said his old friend "expressed interest in moving to Iraq and fighting with Kurdish forces."
Williams' parents told police their son still lived with them and struggled to find a job after graduating from ASU.
He moved out a week prior to the shooting and said he was going to move to Houston, but also considered moving overseas.
They also said their son had become angry over:
- Fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic
- Racial tension
- Police violence
- Current state of the economy
They said the strain from the pandemic, a lack of job prospects, racial tension in America, high profile police use of force incidents and inflation had weighed heavily on him.
They said he did not have many mental health issues that they knew of , but was going to therapy. In April 2022 they worried he would harm himself, so they locked up his guns.
