By Bruce Finley, Jessica Seaman, Shelly Bradbury and Noelle Phillips
Source The Denver Post
Denver police converged after a shooting at East High School on Wednesday morning and said a student shot two adult male faculty members — and that a known suspect had left the school.
Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said the shooting occurred during a “security search” of a student based on past behavior — “a regular protocol with this student” — that detected a gun. The student fired shots “and was able to get out of the school.”
“We don’t have any sense of where he is. We know where he lives,” Thomas said, lamenting “a very troubling situation” at East High School.
One victim was in critical condition undergoing surgery, he said. The other was in serious but stable condition.
A Denver Public Schools spokeswoman initially said the shooting occurred near the campus, but Thomas confirmed it happened inside the building and away from students “in the office area.”
Mayor Michael Hancock went to the school and appealed for information helping to locate an “armed and dangerous” student suspect.
“We know who the suspect is. We will find him. We will hold him accountable,” Hancock said.
Wednesday’s shooting happened less than six weeks after a 16-year-old East student was shot in his car outside the school; he died two weeks later.
The mayor also addressed the fears of parents for their children.
“We feel for them… There should never be a concern of parents that they are safe in the building,” he said.
Anae Hernandez, 15, said she was outside the school and walked up to see an ambulance and one of the wounded faculty members on a stretcher. Someone told her there has been a shooting. She ran to a nearby 7/11 to hide.
“It’s scary,” she said. “It keeps us from our learning time.”
“I feel like it’s something that everybody has to worry about here a lot,” she said. “Because this is not like something that just happens once in a while. This is a recurring theme and it’s not something that should be going on.”
Jeannie Hernandez, who is grandmother to Anae and has another granddaughter in East High, said she hates that her kids are constantly afraid, but she wants them to keep attending school. She says they will talk about it tonight, the same as they did after the last shooting lockdown.
“Last time, I just hugged them and hugged them and told them how sorry I was,” she said.
The police said in a Twitter posting shortly after 10 a.m. that they were working to gather information. A large police presence was expected in the area east of downtown Denver.
Denver Public Schools tweeted that East High was on lockdown. “All students are in their third-period classrooms,” the district wrote on Twitter. “We are holding them there until further notice.”
DPS officials around 10:30 a.m. announced “we will be doing a controlled release once DPD allows” and that parents can pick up their children at 17th Avenue and Esplanade. “Students who drove will be escorted to their cars in the parking lot and can leave. Students who ride the bus will be held until their bus arrives,” a DPS Twitter posting said.
Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives investigators announced they were at the scene, and referred queries to Denver police.
In recent weeks, students at East have spoken out about no longer feeling safe on campus after a classmate was fatally shot about a month ago.
Luis Garcia, a junior, was sitting in his car near East when he was shot on Feb. 13. The 16-year-old died more than two weeks later, on March 1, from his injuries.
Since then, students have called on Denver Public Schools to respond more aggressively to the threat of violence. Earlier this month, they also walked out of their classrooms and to the Colorado State Capitol to advocate for gun legislation and safer schools.
Students have said that after the February shooting, they experienced multiple lockdowns and other alerts. A weapon was found on campus the day after students returned to class.
East also has received false reports of threats twice since the school year began in the fall.
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