Student shoots administrators at Denver school
DENVER — A 17-yearold student shot and wounded two school administrators at a Denver high school Wednesday morning, after a handgun was found during a daily search of the boy that was being conducted because of behavioral issues, authorities said.
Suspect Austin Lyle remained at large following the shooting at East High School and was wanted for attempted homicide. The gun he used was not immediately recovered, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said.
Police issued an alert linking Lyle to a red 2005 Volvo X90 with Colorado plates and offered a reward up to $2,000 for information on the case.
The shooting happened just before 10 a.m. in an area away from classrooms as the student was undergoing a search as part of a “safety plan” that required him to be patted down daily, officials said.
One of the administrators was critically injured and was undergoing surgery Wednesday at an area hospital. The second victim was in stable condition, Thomas said. Both victims are male.
Thomas said police know where the suspect lives and were confident they would apprehend him.
“He obviously is armed and dangerous and willing to use the weapon, as we’ve learned this morning,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock warned as law enforcement searched for the suspect.
Earlier this month students from the school skipped class and marched to Colorado’s state Capitol to demand stricter gun laws, following the death of a fellow student who was shot while sitting in a car near the school, which has about 2,500 students.
There were no school resource officers on campus at the time of Wednesday’s shooting, Thomas said. But following the shooting, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero said two armed officers will be posted at East High School through the end of the school year.
In June 2020, amid a summer of protests over racial injustice following 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.
Gun violence at schools has become increasingly common in the U.S. with more than 1,300 shootings recorded between 2000 and June 2022, according to researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School and Center for Homeland Defense and Security. 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.