Police: Student shoots 2 school administrators, flees
A Denver high school student whose past behavior had prompted school officials to require that he be searched before entering the school shot two school administrators Wednesday morning and then fled, authorities said.
The shooting happened before 10 a.m. at East High School, when the two administrators were patting down the student in an office area separate from other students and found a gun, according to the Denver Police Department. The student fired several shots, injuring both administrators.
The two men were transported to an area hospital, where one was in critical condition and the other in serious and stable condition, Chief Ron Thomas of the Denver Police Department said at a news conference. The suspect, who has not been caught, was identified by police as Austin Lyle, 17. They said he was wanted on the charge of attempted homicide.
The chief said that the
suspect, a student at the school, had a safety plan in place that required that he be searched before entering the school each day. It was unclear what kind of behavior might have prompted the safety check requirement, or how many other students were on the safety plan. The school district did not immediately respond to inquiries Wednesday.
Superintendent Alex Marrero of Denver Public Schools said that such plans were “particular for each individual student” and that they were based
on past behavior.
The school, which has about 2,500 students, was under lockdown and will be closed for the rest of the week, Marrero said at the news conference. In 2020, Denver Public Schools voted to remove school resource officers from its schools and ended its contract with the Denver Police Department, according to the district's website. Thomas said at the news conference Wednesday that there would be two armed police officers stationed at the school for the remainder of the year.