{"id":795604,"date":"2019-05-08T11:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T17:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/authorities-say-suspects-in-colorado-deadly-school-shooting-used-at-least-two-handguns\/"},"modified":"2019-05-08T11:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T17:52:00","slug":"authorities-say-suspects-in-colorado-deadly-school-shooting-used-at-least-two-handguns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/authorities-say-suspects-in-colorado-deadly-school-shooting-used-at-least-two-handguns\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities say suspects in Colorado deadly school shooting used at least two handguns"},"content":{"rendered":"
Officials guide students off a bus and into a recreation center where they were reunited with their parents Tuesday, May 7, 2019, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/strong>
AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. \u2014 Two high school students used at least two handguns in the shooting at a charter school that killed one of their classmates and injured eight others in a Colorado community that just weeks ago marked the 20th anniversary of one of the nation\u2019s worst school shootings, authorities said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

That Tuesday afternoon\u2019s attack at STEM School Highlands Ranch happened just miles from Columbine High School was sure to raise questions about whether it was inspired by the 1999 massacre, but the answer was not immediately clear.<\/p>\n

Douglas County sheriff\u2019s officials said Devon Erickson, 18, and a younger student who is a juvenile and was not identified walked into the STEM School Highlands Ranch through an entrance without metal detectors and opened fire on students in two classrooms.<\/p>\n

Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock told reporters that the suspects had a \u201cnumber of weapons.\u201d They included two handguns that Spurlock said the suspects were not old enough to buy or own.<\/p>\n

Authorities on Tuesday identified the juvenile suspect as a boy but Spurlock on Wednesday told reporters that the juvenile suspect is a girl.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe originally thought the juvenile was a male by appearance,\u201d Spurlock said.<\/p>\n

He declined comment when asked by reporters if the juvenile suspect is transgender.<\/p>\n

KMGH-TV reported late Tuesday that the juvenile suspect is a transgender male in the process of transitioning from female to male. The television station cited anonymous sources close to the investigation.<\/p>\n

As gunfire echoed through the school, students hid or ran through the halls, some shouting.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one really knew what was going on so I didn\u2019t know they were bullets,\u201d said seventh-grader Sophia Marks. \u201cI just kind of saw like flashes and we heard bangs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student Nui Giasolli told NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d show she was in her British Literature class when Erickson came in late.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe walked to the other side of the classroom where we also had another door and he opened the door. He walked back as if he was going to go back to his seat, then he walked back to the door and he closed it. The next thing I know he\u2019s pulling a gun and he\u2019s telling nobody to move,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Giasolli said another student lunged at the shooter, giving other students time to dive under desks and flee to safety.<\/p>\n

At least one student encountered the suspects during the shooting, Sheriff Tony Spurlock said. He did not elaborate but said \u201cwe\u2019re going to hear about very heroic things that have taken place at the school,\u201d Spurlock said.<\/p>\n

He declined to identify the student who was shot and killed at the school.<\/p>\n

Within minutes, deputies at a nearby sheriff\u2019s department substation entered the school and arrested the two suspects without exchanging gunfire. One of the suspects was detained by the school\u2019s security guard, Spurlock said.<\/p>\n

Both suspects were students at the school and they were not previously known to authorities, Spurlock said.<\/p>\n

Josh Dutton, 18, told The Associated Press that he was close friends with Erickson in middle school but hadn\u2019t seen him for four years as he went to a different high school. On Sunday, he spotted Erickson at a local light rail station and said he was shocked at how much his friend had changed.<\/p>\n

Erickson wore all black, a hat and sunglasses, was significantly skinnier and didn\u2019t seem interested in talking. \u201cHe said he\u2019d just turned 18 and he owned rifles,\u201d Dutton said.<\/p>\n

A message left at a phone number listed for Erickson\u2019s home was not immediately returned. He was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear when the younger suspect, who has not been identified, would appear in court.<\/p>\n

The shooting took place exactly a week after a gunman killed two students and wounded four at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. It also comes nearly three weeks after neighboring Littleton marked the grim 20th anniversary of the Columbine school massacre that killed 13 people. The two schools are separated by about 7 miles (11 kilometers) in adjacent communities south of Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cTragically, this community and those surrounding it know all too well these hateful and horrible acts of violence,\u201d White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting and was in touch with state and local officials, Deere said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heart of all Colorado is with the victims and their families,\u201d Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.<\/p>\n

STEM is a public charter school with a focus on science, technology, engineering and math. It has more than 1,850 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.<\/p>\n

As the gunfire rang out, students ran through the halls shouting \u201cSchool shooter!\u201d Some wondered at first if it was a joke or a drill.<\/p>\n

Chris Elledge, 15, said his teacher told the class to hide behind weight equipment in the room, where they stayed until police arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey busted in the room, and they were asking if there was any suspects in the room, if we were OK, and they escorted us out to go out to the front of the building,\u201d Elledge said.<\/p>\n

Frantic parents used their cellphones to find their children as news of the shooting spread. Sophia Marks\u2019 mother, Sara Marks, said she has two other children who also go to the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have no idea what\u2019s going on and the children are texting you that they\u2019re hiding under a desk and bullets are hitting their window, or things are hitting their window, it\u2019s a horrible feeling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Three hospitals reported treating eight people in connection with the attack. Five had been released by Wednesday morning but three remained hospitalized in intensive care, Spurlock said.<\/p>\n

Fernando Montoya told television station KMGH that his 17-year-old son was shot three times but was expected to make a full recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God he is fine,\u201d Montoya said. \u201cEven though he got shot, he\u2019s OK. He\u2019s going to walk out on his feet, so I\u2019m glad. We\u2019re so lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officials guide students off a bus and into a recreation center where they were reunited with their parents Tuesday, May 7, 2019, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)AP | AP HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. \u2014 Two high school students used at least two handguns in the shooting at a charter school that killed one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-795604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 08:41:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}