2 on Denver school’s staff shot; student sought
DENVER — A 17-year-old student shot and wounded two administrators at his Denver high school Wednesday as they searched him for weapons, a daily requirement because of the boy's behavioral problems, authorities said.
The student, later identified as Austin Lyle, fled, and his red Volvo was later found in a remote mountain area about 50 miles southwest of Denver, but he remained at large. A shelter in place order was issued by authorities around the small town of Bailey, in Park County.
A body was later found nearby, Sheriff Tom McGraw of the Park County Sheriff's Office said in a brief interview. The sheriff would not comment on the identity of the body. McGraw said the shelter in place had been lifted and that all law enforcement had been told that the search was over.
The shooting occurred at a school shaken by frequent lockdowns and violence, including the killing of a classmate that prompted East High School students to march on the Colorado Capitol earlier this month. Parents who converged on the 2,500-student campus on Wednesday faulted officials for not doing enough to protect their children.
“I am sick of it,” said Jesse Haase, who planned to talk with her daughter about taking her out of classes for the rest of the school year.
Amid the flurry of criticism over lax security, Denver school officials said after the shooting that they would once again put armed officers into the city's public high schools.
The shooting happened just before 10 a.m. in an office area as Lyle was undergoing a search as part of a “safety plan” that required him to be patted down daily, officials said.
The gun used in the shooting was not immediately recovered, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said.
One of the wounded administrators was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon and the second remained in serious condition, said Heather Burke, a spokesperson for Denver Health hospital.
There were no school resource officers on campus at the time of Wednesday's shooting, Thomas said.
In June 2020, amid a summer of protests over racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd, Denver Public Schools became one of the districts around the US that decided to phase out its use of police officers in school buildings. That push was fueled by criticism that school resource officers disproportionately arrested Black students, sweeping them into the criminal justice system.
After Wednesday's shooting, two armed officers will be posted at East High School through the end of the school year, and other city high schools also will each get an officer, said Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero.
In a Wednesday letter to the city's Board of Education, Marrero said his decision violated the district's policies but added he “can no longer stand on the sidelines.”
“I am the leader of this district who is charged with keeping our scholars and staff safe every day,” he wrote. The School Board said it supported the decision.
Gun violence at schools has become increasingly common in the U.S. with more than 1,300 shooting incidents recorded between 2000 and June 2022, according to government researchers. Those shootings killed 377 people and wounded 1,025, according to a database maintained by the researchers.
Students from East High School had been scheduled to testify Wednesday afternoon before the Colorado Legislature on gun safety bills.
Lyle transferred to East High School after being disciplined and removed from a high school in nearby Aurora last school year because of unspecified violations of school policies, said Cherry Creek School District spokesperson Lauren Snell.
Marrero said safety plans for students are enacted in response to “past educational and also behavioral experiences,” adding that it's a common practice throughout Colorado's public schools.