Police officers secures students parking area of Denver’s East High School after a shooting at the school on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.
The Colorado high school student who shot and injured two school administrators after they discovered his gun during a mandatory pat down had been on probation for a weapons charge, a law enforcement source said Thursday.
The 17-year-old who shot two deans at Denver East High School on Wednesday, was arrested on a weapons charge in 2021 shortly before he was expelled from Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado, the source said.
Classmates at Overland High School flagged posts about guns on the teen’s social media, prompting police to visit his parents’ home, the source said. His parents let the officers in and they found a rifle with a “high capacity magazine and a silencer” in his room. The teen was charged with a felony but the court dropped the charge and instead put him on one-year probation for the incident, the source said.
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A representative for Cherry Creek School District said the suspect was “disciplined for violating board policy” during the 2021-2022 school year and consequently “removed from Overland High School.” It is unclear if the weapons incident was the violation.
It is unclear if the teen’s previous weapons’ charge prompted his safety plan. Both the Denver Public School District and the Cherry Creek School District declined to provide details about the teen’s safety plan, citing privacy for minors under state and federal law.
