A slow, downward spiral

Once a promising student, bookish Aaron Snyder slipped ‘over the edge’

Sara Burnett, Alan Gathright And Betsy Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 18, 2007 at midnight

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Aaron Snyder was the kind of kid teachers never had to tell to be quiet.

At Horizon High School in Thornton, he took college prep courses. He competed in Knowledge Bowl. He was polite, caring, attentive.

He didn't cause trouble.

When he graduated in 1992, Snyder was one of seven valedictorians in a class of 427 students. That fall, he enrolled at Colorado State University. He wanted to be an engineer, then a college professor.

On Tuesday, police, neighbors and others who knew the 32-year-old Thornton man were trying to piece together what went wrong between high school graduation and Monday's shooting at the state Capitol.

Snyder's mother told police her son had recently been diagnosed as delusional and was seeing a doctor in Littleton, according to a police report. She also said she didn't know what prompted his actions Monday.

Police say Snyder sent an e-mail about 8:25 a.m. to his boss at the Fort Collins company where he was an intern. In it, he introduced himself as "the emperor of sovereign rule of this nation," then said God had chosen Monday as the day for him to begin his reign.

After sending the e-mail, Snyder left work and went to a Northglenn tuxedo shop, where he rented a three-piece tux while armed with a gun and knife. About 2 p.m., he entered the governor's office, saying he was there to take over state government.

He was shot and killed after flashing a gun and refusing a state trooper's orders to stop moving toward him, Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said.

'He had a problem'

Neighbor Doug Egge said it became clear about six months ago that something was wrong with Snyder. The 52-year-old software consultant had tutored Snyder in computer programming until Snyder's behavior started to deteriorate.

"He had a problem and I don't think it was dealt with correctly," Egge said. "Maybe it was medications or the right doctor.

"Something changed. Something made him go over the edge."

Snyder's former high school teachers described him as an excellent student who showed no signs of being troubled.

"He was just a wonderful young man," said Elnore Grow, who taught chemistry and was a co-sponsor of the Knowledge Bowl.

But his intense focus on academics didn't continue at CSU. University records show Snyder enrolled in the fall of 1992 but attended off and on for the next 14 years. It wasn't until the fall of 2005 that he earned his bachelor's degree in engineering, CSU spokeswoman Dell Rae Moellenberg said. He enrolled in a master's program in the fall of 2006, but didn't continue in 2007.

Snyder has no violent criminal history. His only record is for several traffic violations, received in Larimer County between 1995 and 1997.

On a resume posted online last year, Snyder said he worked as a tutor at CSU and an area community college between 2004 and 2006. He said he graduated from CSU with a 2.82 grade-point average and was looking for a part-time job or summer internship.

'God has chosen me'

In May, Snyder began a summer internship in the research-and-development area of Advanced Energy in Fort Collins.

In his Monday morning e-mail to his boss, Snyder wrote, "God has bestowed this honor on me. Today is the appointed day in which God has chosen for me to begin my reign," according to a report filed with Fort Collins police.

The message continued: "I have decided to favor Advanced Energy as a company.

Please keep the emperor's desk free for my use in R&D purposes when I have spare time. I take engineering very seriously."

He signed the e-mail, "With love in Jesus Christ, Aaron Aurelius Ricardus Constantinus."

He left work around 9 a.m. and headed for the Northglenn tuxedo shop, where he told the employee he needed a tux for an event in Denver.

The woman called police after Snyder left the store around 11 a.m.

Officers then went to Snyder's home, where they spoke with his mother, Kathie Snyder, before putting out an alert to police statewide.

Kathie Snyder tried to reach her son on his cell phone, but the phone went to voice mail, the police report said.

She told officers Aaron had become upset with the family recently over a "minor issue." But she said she couldn't remember what the issue was and that "nothing significant occurred."

Whitman said Tuesday the family had been cooperative and that they have hired an attorney to represent them in further conversations with police.

Officers were seen at the family's home on the 13300 block of St. Paul Street in Thornton late Monday and again Tuesday.

Police carried two cardboard boxes and two paper bags containing items from the house Tuesday afternoon.

Whitman said investigators are trying to determine if anyone knew of Snyder's plans and what might have led to Monday's shooting. Asked whether he thought Snyder had been committing "suicide by cop" - or gone to the Capitol intending to die - Whitman said:

"I guess we'll never know that."

burnetts@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5343. Staff writer Hector Gutierrez contributed to this report.

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