Eight students were shot at school Tuesday afternoon in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, an affluent community neighboring Columbine, the Denver Channel reports. One student has died from injuries sustained in the shooting.
It is with extreme sadness that we can confirm that 1 student at the STEM School was killed in today’s #stemshooting incident. The immediate family has been notified. Douglas County Coroner Jill Romann has not officially identified the student is stating it’s an 18 year old male.
— DC Sheriff (@dcsheriff) May 8, 2019
The gunmen—two students at STEM School Highlands Ranch, the charter school where the mass shooting took place before 2:00 p.m.—are in custody, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
“We know two individuals walked into the STEM school, got deep inside the school and engaged students in two separate locations,” said Sheriff Tony Spurlock during a news conference. “There were a number of students that were shot and injured.
“I can tell you that there were shots fired,” Spurlock continued. “Our officers went in and engaged the suspects. We did struggle with the suspects to take them into custody.”
STEM Highlands Ranch employs a private security firm. School staff quickly alerted authorities, who arrived at the school within two minutes, according to the New York Times.
Parents who raced to the school to look for their children were told to wait nearby for updates. All but one of the injured students has been reunited with their families, Spurlock said.
“We are making all of our public safety resources available to assist the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department in their effort to secure the site and evacuate the students,” Gov. Jared Polis said on Twitter. “The heart of all Colorado is with the victims & their families.”
We are making all of our public safety resources available to assist the Douglas County Sheriff's Department in their effort to secure the site and evacuate the students. We are monitoring the situation in real time. The heart of all Colorado is with the victims & their families.
— Governor Jared Polis (@GovofCO) May 7, 2019
STEM Highlands Ranch educates approximately 1,800 students grades K-12. Nearby, Columbine High School—where, on April, 20, 1999, students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris murdered 12 students and 1 teacher before committing suicide—was placed on alert.
Last month, hundreds of Denver-area schools, including STEM Highlands Ranch, were closed after Sol Pais, an 18-year old Florida woman “infatuated” with the Columbine massacre, traveled from Miami, Florida, to Columbine with a pump barrel shot gun and ammunition to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the mass shooting, USA Today reports.
Officials would not say whether Pais planned to replicate Harris’ and Klebold’s violent acts. Her body was found west of Denver—in Clear Creek County near a ski resort—dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.