DENVER—He was an inquisitive student and a high school valedictorian, but it took him 13 years to finish college.
He was a friendly kid, but sometimes withdrew into himself and stood silently smoking cigarettes.
He seemed kind, almost docile, but on Monday he walked into the state Capitol with a loaded pistol and was shot to death by a state trooper after declaring he was “the emperor.”
Police and those who knew Aaron Snyder paint a hazy and sometimes contradictory portrait of the 32-year-old electrical engineering graduate, who lived with his parents in a tidy, four-bedroom home in a Denver suburb.
“Sometimes he had a big smile for you,” said Doug Egge, who lived next door. “Other times it was like he was in his own little world.”
Investigators say Snyder walked into the Capitol on Monday, went to Gov. Bill Ritter’s first-floor office and said, “I am the emperor and I’m here to take over state government.”
The governor’s security detail escorted him into the hallway outside the office. There, investigators said, Snyder pulled back his coat to reveal his .357 Smith and Wesson and moved toward a state trooper, ignoring two warnings to stop.
He was shot twice in the chest and once in the head.
Before going to the Capitol, Snyder rented a tuxedo and told a shop worker it was “the day of the emperor’s reign.” He also told a co-worker in an e-mail that morning that God had made him “the emperor, the sovereign ruler of this nation.”
Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Snyder appeared to have “some type of mental problem,” but he didn’t elaborate. Police declined to comment Thursday.
A telephone message left for the Snyders wasn’t returned. Police said the parents had retained a lawyer but declined to name the attorney.
Before the shooting, Snyder’s cryptic comments raised suspicions and his mother told investigators he had been diagnosed as delusional and was being treated by a psychiatrist.
Delusions are a symptom of some “thought disorder” mental illnesses but do not constitute a diagnosis on their own, said Susie Street of Mental Health America of Colorado.
As a teenager, Snyder was bright and helpful to his classmates. He graduated from Horizon High School in 1992 as one of seven class valedictorians and entered Colorado State University that fall.
Classmate and fellow valedictorian Jerry Snyder, no relation to Aaron, remembered him as a competitive tennis player who tutored fellow students and applied for college scholarships.
When Jerry Snyder called him a year or two after high school, Aaron Snyder told him he had left school to “find himself,” saying “I’m just having a few religious things going on.”
“He just kind of seemed like he dropped off the face of the earth,” Jerry Snyder said.
Professor Edwin Chong, who taught Snyder in a graduate-level class last fall, remembered Aaron Snyder as “friendly and polite, a nice guy” who asked a lot of questions.
“He was very interested in what was being taught and wanted to find out more,” Chong said.
Sean Zhang, an engineering graduate student, said Snyder seemed like a loner but was still approachable.
“He was a little bit awkward, but it didn’t raise any red flags,” said Zhang, 22, told the Fort Collins Coloradoan. “The way he answered questions and asked questions, it just seemed like he wanted attention. It seemed like he was trying to fit in.”
Snyder did not finish his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering until the fall of 2005. He began taking graduate-level classes but stopped after the fall 2006 semester.
Egge, his neighbor, said he noticed a change in Snyder this year, and they stopped talking. “He had a problem. I don’t think it was being dealt with properly,” Egge said.
Neighbor Mary Annunziato said Aaron never appeared violent. “He was kind, I would almost say docile,” she said.
But in April, Snyder bought a handgun at a Thornton sporting goods store. Whitman said it was purchased legally, and store officials said he passed the required state background check.
In May, Snyder became an intern at the high-tech company Advanced Energy Inc. Company officials confirmed Snyder had worked there and expressed condolences to his family, but declined to say more.
On Monday morning, Snyder sent his cryptic e-mail to an Advanced Energy worker, saying God made him “the emperor, the sovereign ruler of this nation,” according to text released by Fort Collins police.
“God has bestowed this honor on me. Today is the appointed day in which God has chosen for me to begin my reign,” the e-mail read.
A few hours later, Snyder lay dead on the floor of a Capitol hallway.
