Authorities have identified the boy suspected of shooting two fellow students, before fatally shooting himself at Evergreen High School, as 16-year-old Desmond Holly.
Holly, armed with a revolver, shot two of his classmates before fatally shooting himself, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said. Authorities are still investigating his motive.
One teen shot at the high school remains in critical condition at St. Anthony Hospital , hospital officials confirmed Thursday morning. Another victim was in stable condition and was transferred to a different facility Wednesday evening.
One was shot inside the school and the other was shot outside, Jacki Kelley, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday. Investigators have been in “close contact” with Holly’s family.
Family members of one of the victims, 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone, expressed gratitude for the community’s support Thursday.
“The family appreciates the community’s concern and support, but as we remain focused on our loved one’s recovery, we respectfully request privacy as we continue to heal and navigate the road ahead,” the family said in a statement, which the sheriff’s office published on social media.
Investigators will search the shooter’s home, locker, phone and other belongings to find clues on his motive, Kelley said. She added that investigators had already uncovered “some level of confirmation” the shooter had been “radicalized through an extremist network,” without offering specifics.
“There’s a lot of places to look that we hope will just give us better information at what he was attempting to do and maybe the why,” she said.
It is unclear how many rounds the shooter fired in and outside the school, but Kelley said the shooter brought “quite a bit of ammunition” with him to school after riding the bus to school that morning.
“I have to believe when you bring a gun to school and you continue to fire and reload and fire and reload that you are on a mission and we are grateful that he was less successful, but we’re devastated that he was successful at all,” Kelley said.
It remained unclear if Holly knew the victims and had a dispute with them, or if they were shot randomly. Authorities are looking at whether the parents should face any criminal charges for allowing their son access to the gun, Kelley said.
Hundreds of law enforcement raced to Evergreen High School after reports of an active shooter at the school came in at 12:24 p.m., the sheriff’s office said.
First responders were on scene in “about a minute or two” — a sheriff’s office substation is down the street — and deputies were in contact with the shooter within five minutes, Kelley said.
Law enforcement did not fire any weapons and the school’s resource officer was not there at the time of the shooting, she added.
“He can go to lunch. He might have to handle something in the parking lot and he might be covering something that’s happening in the neighborhood or up in the Evergreen area,” Kelley said. “He did not do anything wrong.”
Several teachers and students locked the doors to the classrooms and hid inside rooms in the school, Kelley said.
“I can’t praise the staff and the students enough for for doing what they learned to do, whether it was 10 years ago, 15 years ago or it was something they learned at their first day of class here,” she said. “They did the right thing. They locked down.”
Evergreen High School will be closed Thursday and Friday to allow students and families to connect with mental health resources available throughout Evergreen. The high school staff will also have opportunities to gather and receive support.
“Today brought heartbreak none of us ever wanted to face,” the school wrote in a post on its website for families Wednesday evening. “Tonight we hold close the strength of our community and the support we find in one another.”
On Thursday, two schools in Boulder were briefly placed on lockdown after police received a report of a man with a gun near Fairview High School.
Around noon, Boulder police officers made contact with the man, who was wearing a weighted vest and carrying his cellphone in his hand, and determined there was no active threat to the community.