Two Students Injured, One Dead at Arapahoe High School Shooting in Colorado
Two students were injured in a shooting at a Colorado high school and a third student, the suspected gunman, has died from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Police said one of the wounded students was in serious condition, the other was being treated for minor injuries.
“The suspect has been found inside the school and has deceased by what appears to be self inflicted gunshot wound,” said Grayson Robinson, Arapahoe County Sheriff.
The gunman entered Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., looking to target a specific teacher, who escaped the school, Robinson said. When another student confronted him, the student was shot.
“The teacher began to understand that he was being looked at and exited the school. One student confronted the armed student and was shot,” Robinson said.
A school custodian told ABC News affiliate KMGH-TV that he saw the gunman confront the teacher, who he says was a librarian. The teacher was able to get away and the custodian said he drove the librarian away in his truck.
Police said they know the identity of the gunman, but are completing interviews with his family before releasing his name.
The school was quickly placed on lockdown, students said, as teacher were ordered to lock classroom doors and dim the lights.
“I was in math and it happened three classrooms away,” said student Berny Acosta from a nearby church where evacuated students assembled.
“There was a first shot and it happened from a classroom, and then I heard three or four more. There was a shot and then a pause and then four continuous shots. We went immediately into lockdown…. Turned all the lights off, got as far from the windows and doors as we could,” Acosta told ABC News.
“I saw blood on the ground of the study center when evacuated. That’s where there was a lot of blood on the ground. That’s where the ambulance carried people out from,” he said.
Student Kevin Dement said the kids were staying calm in the classroom, “but as soon as we were evacuated we just ran.”
The school is part of the Littleton, Colo., school district and is just a few miles from Columbine High School, the scene of one of the country’s worst school massacres, in which 15 people, including two teenage gunmen, were killed.
In a scene that was eerily reminiscent of the Columbine tragedy, hundreds of students could be seen fleeing the school and then approaching police with their hands up to be searched.
Bomb-detection units and SWAT teams were on the scene.
Students described a swift response by police, with dozens entering the school, minutes after the first shots were fired.