Student suspect in Denver school shooting is found dead
The 17-year-old suspect in a shooting that wounded two administrators at a Denver high school was found dead in a nearby county, authorities said.
The Park County Coroner’s Office announced Thursday morning that the body was identified as that of Austin Lyle, the 17-year-old student Denver police had named as the suspect in the shooting at Denver’s East High School hours earlier. Lyle’s next of kin have been notified, and the coroner’s office was investigating the cause of death.
Police found the body Wednesday night in the Colorado woods near an abandoned car authorities said belonged to the suspect. The body was found in a remote mountain area of Park County, about 50 miles southwest of Denver, said Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw.
Authorities ordered residents of the nearby town of Bailey to shelter in place as agencies, including the FBI, searched the forest.
Lyle was accused of pulling out a handgun and firing shots as he was patted down for weapons, a daily safety check because of the student’s behavioral problems, authorities said. Alex Marrero, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, declined to offer further details.
The suspect fled the building after the shooting. The weapon was not found at the school, and officers were searching the student’s home, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said at a news conference.
One of the administrators wounded in the shooting was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon and the other remained in serious condition, said Heather Burke, a spokesperson for Denver Health hospital.
East High School canceled classes through the end of the week for its 2,500 students and announced it would add two armed officers to be stationed at the school through the end of the academic year. “I really, really feel strongly that we shouldn’t be here, but here we are,” Marrero said.
The school had already been shaken by violence, including the shooting of a 16-year-old student and star soccer player near the school in February. The student, Luis Garcia, was taken off life support early this month.
“This school has gone through a tremendous time over the last year or so,” Thomas said, adding the police department has “had a significant presence in the school” since Garcia was shot.
The shooting is the 83rd shooting on a K-12 school campus this calendar year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. It comes as March for Our Lives student activists plan to demonstrate in five U.S. state capitals this week to mark five years since the original marches in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.