The victims were identified as Carlos Moreno, 66, of Thornton, and Victor Vasquez, 26, of Denver, both of whom died at the scene, and Pamela Marques, 52, of Denver, who died at the hospital.
The affidavit in the case remained sealed Friday.
While police released little information about Ostrem, neighbors at the Samuel Park Apartments described him as a loner who would walk around carrying weapons.
“He didn’t seem to have anybody,” Teresa Muniz, one of his neighbors, told The Associated Press. “Being angry all the time. That’s what he seemed like, always angry.”
Muniz said most of the building’s tenants talk to one another, but Ostrem never returned her greetings and swore at people for leaving laundry in communal machines. She also said she sometimes saw Ostrem carrying a shotgun or a bow and set of arrows to and from the building.
Another neighbor, Gerald Burnett, 63, said he was sitting on the stairs outside drinking coffee one morning when Ostrem came down, told him to move and cursed at him.
“Dude had an attitude, big time,” Burnett said. “He’s the type of person if you said, ‘Good morning,’ he wouldn’t say nothing.”
Another resident, Dennis Valenzuela, told NBC affiliate KUSA that he noticed Ostrem treated tenants differently because of their race. Thornton is about one-third Hispanic or Latino.
“Very quiet, but verbally abusive toward Hispanics,” said the 49-year-old maintenance worker. “Just real rude, he would use vulgar language with Hispanics and stuff like that.”
Thornton police spokesman Victor Avila wouldn’t say if investigators knew about neighbors’ statements or whether race played a role in the shooting, but told NBC News that the case is “an active investigation and everything will be looked at.”
Ostrem recently had financial problems and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2015. He also had minor run-ins with police dating back to the 1990s.
For the past three years, he worked in the metal fabrication shop of a roofing company. On the morning of the shooting, he left his work station without any explanation and never came back, boss David Heidt told the AP.
“We’re all bewildered as to where we are now,” Heidt said.
Article originally posted on NBCNews.com.
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