The 16-year-old boy accused of shooting two classmates at Evergreen High School on Wednesday before fatally shooting himself embraced conspiratorial, antisemitic and white supremacist social media content, according to a review by The Colorado Sun.
Desmond Holly also reposted TikToks about the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and posed wearing a T-shirt with the word “WRATH” on it, which is what shooter Dylan Klebold wore as he carried out the Columbine attack.
But perhaps most ominous was a post on X that an account linked to Holly made about an hour before the Evergreen shooting happened: a photo of a small revolver being held over a table with a box of ammunition on it. It was posted without comment.
A few days earlier, the account posted the same image, with the caption “little .38 special I got.”
Authorities say Holly used a revolver in his attack Wednesday afternoon at Evergreen High School, critically wounding two classmates as he repeatedly fired and reloaded the handgun. He then fatally shot himself as law enforcement arrived at the school.
Jacki Kelley, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said Holly has been “radicalized through an extremist network” before the shooting. She didn’t provide details, saying investigators would reveal more in the future.
“We want to at least give you that much about maybe mindset for him,” Kelley said Thursday.
Kelley said law enforcement has been in close contact with Holly’s family as they investigate the shooting. The sheriff’s office posted on social media Friday that “the information flow at this point will be minimal, as we have shared all the releasable information we currently have.”
The Denver Post was first to report on the teen’s social media activity.
Holly’s TikTok account was listed as “banned” Friday morning. The profile picture for the account appears to be an enhanced image of the gunman who killed six people and injured 14 others in Isla Vista, California, in 2014.
Holly was also active on a “violent gore site,” which features videos of people dying, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL said Holly joined the site in December 2024 in the month between the shootings at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, and at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee. The organization said the shooters in both of those attacks also visited the website.
Holly commented on posts about past mass shootings, the league said, and his social media posts indicated he began to collect tactical gear. In a now-deleted TikTok video viewed by the group, Holly modeled a tactical helmet and gas mask.
Beneath the post, the ADL said Holly posted comments suggesting that he was close to carrying out his own attack. He liked a comment that said, “You got close to a full setup now man time to make a move” and conversed with other users about how he planned to film his actions.
The sheriff’s office said it does not have any records of interactions with Holly or reports made about Holly by members of the public.
“His name is nowhere in our system,” said Mark Techmeyer, the office’s director of public affairs.
Officials confirmed that Holly used one weapon in the attack, but, citing the ongoing investigation, refused to answer The Sun’s questions about whether the shooter’s parents knew that he had access to the gun, where Holly got the firearm, how it was stored at his home or if he had access to additional weapons.
The minimum age to purchase a handgun is set at 21 by federal law.
Colorado law requires that gun owners store their weapons in a safe or with a trigger or cable lock. Unlawful storage of a firearm is a Class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 120 days in jail and a fine of up to $750. Providing a handgun to a juvenile or “permitting a juvenile to possess a handgun” is a Class 4 felony, punishable by up to 6 years in prison.
As of Friday, one of the teens wounded by Holly remained in St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood in critical condition, a hospital spokesperson said. The other wounded teen was transferred to Children’s Hospital Colorado and is in serious condition, which is a medical state better than critical condition.
Matthew Silverstone, 18, was identified by family as one of the victims.“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.
On Thursday evening, thousands of students, parents and community members gathered at a vigil in Evergreen to comfort each other and make sense of a shooting that sent scores of confused and terrified students fleeing into strangers’ homes and others barricading themselves in classrooms.