DENVER (AP) — A 16-year-old boy who had been radicalized by an “extremist network” fired a revolver multiple times at a suburban Denver high school, wounding two students, authorities said Thursday.
Some students ran and others locked down during Wednesday’s shooting at Evergreen High School in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. One of the victims was shot inside the school and another outside. The suspect, fellow student Desmond Holly, later died, officials with the Jefferson County sheriff’s office said.
Details on how Holly allegedly had been radicalized will be released at a later date, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jacki Kelley said during a Thursday news conference. Investigators were searching the suspect’s room, his backpack and his locker as they try to unravel the shooting.
A day after the shooting, cars of students and staffers remained in the parking lot outside the school nestled in the foothills.
Deputies stopped drivers from trying to enter the property. A command post was set up outside and authorities could be seen coming and going from the school’s front entrance. The Colorado and U.S. flags were still being flown at the top offlag poles.
Shots were fired both inside and outside the school building, and law enforcement officers who responded found the shooter within five minutes of arriving, Kelley said.
Authorities have not provided further details about just where the shootings occurred on the 900-student campus or what the relationship was between the suspect and the two victims.
None of the law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting fired any shots, Kelley said.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
