Arvada Press 0401

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April 1, 2021

JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO

A publication of

INSIDE: CALENDAR: PAGE 11 | VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | SPORTS: PAGE 17

VOLUME 16 | ISSUE 44

Kindergarten to U.S. Taekwon-Do Nationals for Arvada kids Landon Teran and Kiran Berry, both 5, placed first and fourth, respectively, in the U.S. Winter National Championships BY RYAN DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Two students from the International Taekwondo Academy, based in Arvada, qualified for the U.S Taekwondo Nationals thanks to strong showings at the 2021 Winter U.S. National Taekwon-Do Championship. The U.S Taekwon-Do Nationals will be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in July. Landon Teran, 5, won a gold medal in the patterns event at Winter Nationals and won a bronze medal in board breaking. Kiran Berry, also 5, placed fourth in board breaking. Their placements qualify them for the U.S Taekwondo Nationals, where they will compete against 6 and 7-year-olds. International Taekwondo Academy master Victor Teran — Landon’s father — recently moved to Arvada from New Jersey, where his studio was previously located. While the Academy will move into a 2,700 square foot studio on West 80th Avenue in within the next eight

Landon Teran (left) and Kiran Berry (right) practice in front of Victor Teran’s home studio.

weeks, Kiran and Landon trained for Winter Nationals in Victor’s garage studio. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Victor has been teaching hybrid in-person and virtual classes from his garage studio. He currently has three in-person students and

15 virtual students but is hoping to grow the Academy once they move into their new physical space. Regarding successfully preparing Landon and Kiran for Winter Nationals, Victor said the key has been repetition. “Repetition is the mother of all

COURTESY OF VICTOR TERAN

habits,” said Victor. “All we do is repetition; we keep doing it over and over again. It’s OK for them to make mistakes, but when they make mistakes we start over again. It puts them in that mentality like ‘I don’t SEE TAEKWONDO, P23

A quiet peer becomes an accused murderer A-West students recall the man arrested in the Boulder mass shooting BY RYAN DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Ahmad Alissa, charged with 10 counts of murder in the March 22 mass shooting at a Boulder King Soopers, left conflicting memories of a quiet teen prone to outbursts of anger at Arvada West High School. Ten victims tragically perished in the massacre; Denny Stong, 20; Nevin Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Teri Leiker, 51; Officer Eric Talley, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65. Charged with their murders is

Alissa - a name that has become known in households across the country over the last week. For Arvadans, the shooter bears an unseemly connection; Alissa, 21, has been an Arvada resident for the last seven years. Alissa Before Alissa walked into the Table Mesa Drive King Soopers at 2:30 p.m. on March 22 with an AR-556, he was a student at Arvada West High School, which he attended school from March 2015 until his graduation in May 2018. At Arvada West, Alissa competed on the wrestling team for each of the three full school years he completed. Before moving to Arvada in 2014, he attended Denver South High School for part of his freshman year. Alissa was born in Syria in 1999. He moved to the United States in

2002 and later became a citizen. His family owns the Sultan Grill on 64th Avenue - which has been closed since the shootings. Alissa’s troubles began during his time at Arvada West. Six days before his 18th birthday, he was ticketed for a driver’s license restriction violation. Alissa pleaded guilty to the charge, which was later dismissed by the district attorney. Seven months later, things escalated. Alissa was charged with assaulting Alex Kimose, a fellow Arvada West student. At the time, Alissa claimed Kimose had bullied him and called him racial slurs, allegations that Kimose denied. A statement issued by Kimose family attorney Elizabeth Krupa on March 24 called the attack “unprovoked.” Alissa pleaded guilty to class one misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to a year of probation

and 48 hours of community service on April 11, 2018. Alissa’s probation was later extended by two months. It wasn’t Alissa’s first outburst at Arvada West. A year earlier, he engaged in a wrestle-off; an occurrence where a junior varsity wrestler challenges a varsity wrestler in their weight class to a match, with a promotion to varsity offered to the junior varsity wrestler if they defeat their varsity counterpart. A two-year junior varsity wrestler with a middling 5-18 record, Alissa would have moved up to varsity had he won the wrestle-off. When he lost the tryout, he did not take it well. Wrestling team manager Kayli Porterfield, who graduated from Arvada West in 2017, recalls Alissa threatening the team and storming out of the room. SEE ALISSA, P9


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