Two school administrators shot by student at Denver high school

A male student shot two school administrators at a high school in Denver on Wednesday, and the victims were taken to area hospitals, officials said. Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said the student fled the scene after the shooting at East High School.

One victim was in critical condition and one was in serious but stable condition, Thomas said.

Both of the victims are men, Thomas said. The two administrators were searching the student in the morning and “a handgun was retrieved and several shots were fired,” the chief said. The student was not identified because he is a juvenile, the chief said, but authorities know who he is.

“We don’t have any sense of where he is,” the chief said, adding that investigators were trying to speak with people who may know where he may have gone.

Police haven’t recovered the gun used in the shooting, Thomas said. Authorities were searching his home for evidence.

Mayor Michael Hancock described the student as an African American male wearing a hoodie with an astronaut on it. The mayor said the student was armed and dangerous.

“We will find that suspect, and we will hold that suspect accountable for his actions,” Hancock said.

Paramedics were able to “immediately” tend to the wounded men because they were already at the school to treat a student’s allergic reaction, Hancock said.

Students were being released early and the school wouldn’t be open for the rest of the week, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero said.

The student was searched at the beginning of every school day under a “safety plan,” Thomas said. Officials didn’t provide details about the circumstances that led to the daily searches.

The searches were conducted in a secluded office area at the front of the school away from students, Thomas said. A weapon wasn’t found on the student in previous searches, the chief said.

Two armed officers would be assigned to the school until the end of the school year, Marrero said. In a statement, Hancock noted that school resource officers had been removed from the school system, and he called for their return.

“Removing them was a mistake and we must move swiftly to correct it,” the mayor said.

CBS Colorado reports that the shooting happened just a little over a month after 16-year-old Luis Garcia was shot near East High School. He died weeks after the shooting. 

According to Denver Public Schools, 10 guns were confiscated from students in Denver schools between the start of the school year and February.