Two suspects in custody; paintball gun recovered

Denver police took two suspects into custody and recovered a paintball gun after Northfield High School was placed on lockdown Thursday morning because of a report of a student with a weapon, authorities said.

Police and district officials provided few details about the incident, including what charges the two suspects might face and if there were other firearms recovered.

Police Chief Paul Pazen repeatedly stressed that students and staff members in the school were safe.

“All students, all staff, the family that is Northfield is safe,” he said

Denver police said on Twitter that “any potential charges are pending” against the two people taken into cusody.

“We had a foolish act,”

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero said at a news conference.

Denver police have not said whether the two people taken into custody are students; they alternately described them as “suspects” and “individuals” in police tweets and at a news conference with Pazen.

He wouldn’t confirm where the paintball gun was found on campus or whether there was a specific threat against students.

Police initially said officers were “investigating a report of a suspicious occurrence.”

The site of the incident was the school’s gym building, and police cleared students from the building, school officials said in a Facebook post.

A student saw something suspicious and notified campus security, who notified police, Pazen said.

Thursday was the last day of the school for Northfield High, which shares a campus with DSST: Conservatory Green High School. There are about 2,000 students on the campus, Marrero said.

“There has been no discharge of firearms, and no students have been harmed to my knowledge,” a school official wrote in the Facebook post, adding.

“We are all hoping it is a false alarm, but we definitely understand how terribly scary and anxietyprovoking it is, especially given recent events in Texas.”

Denver Public Schools has increased uniformed police presence in and around schools after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where at least 19 young children and two teachers were killed.