Suspect in Denver school shooting found dead
DENVER — A 17-year-old student was found dead in the Colorado woods after being accused of shooting and wounding two administrators at his Denver high school where students and parents were already fed up over recent violence and a lack of action by officials, authorities said Thursday.
The shooting occurred Wednesday morning at
East High School, not far from downtown, while two administrators searched Austin Lyle for weapons, a daily requirement because of the boy’s behavioral issues, authorities said.
Lyle fled after the shooting and his body was found Wednesday night near his car in a remote, mountain area about 50 miles southwest of Denver, outside the small town of Bailey. The cause of death was not released, pending an autopsy.
The shooting, at a time of rising gun violence on campuses across the country, has stoked a backlash against a policy adopted in Denver several years ago of not putting police or armed personnel into schools.
There were no school resource officers on campus at the time of Wednesday’s shooting, Denver police Chief Ron Thomas said.
The administrators who were shot were unarmed, said Denver schools spokesperson Scott Pribble.
Meanwhile, students from East High School and others across Denver rallied Thursday at the state Capitol to push for gun reform. “We’re scared to go to school,” said East High School sophomore Anna Hay.
The shooting occurred at a school shaken by frequent lockdowns and violence, including the recent killing outside the school of a classmate that prompted East High School students to march on the Capitol earlier this month.