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A judge has found that Denver Public Schools is not liable for the death of Luis Garcia, a 16-year-old student who was shot outside East High School in 2023 and died of his injuries.
Denver District Court Judge Kandace C. Gerdes ruled earlier this month that Luis was shot while inside his car on a public street and not on DPS property. Luis’ family sued DPS for wrongful death, but Gerdes dismissed the claims against the school district.
Luis’ family filed a notice Wednesday that it plans to appeal the ruling. Attorney Matthew Barringer, who is representing the family, said they respect the judge’s decision but disagree with it. More importantly, Barringer said, “the real story” is that Luis “still hasn’t received any justice” because no one has been charged with his murder.
The family, Barringer said, “has provided anything and everything they can to help bring justice to their son and to their family. And up to this point, all they have ever received is hollow promises, hollow platitudes.”
Both the Denver Police Department and the Denver District Attorney’s Office said Thursday that there are no updates in the case and that the investigation is ongoing.
A junior at East High, Luis was a talented soccer player who wore #11 on his jersey. On Feb. 13, 2023, Luis was shot in his car after dropping off his cousin at the school. Luis died of his injuries about two weeks later. His family sued DPS, East High, and the Denver school board in 2024.
Luis “was shot where City Park Esplanade intersects East 17th Avenue, where both roads are used for the purpose of public transportation,” Gerdes wrote in a July 18 order. “The Court is not persuaded that these roads are ‘within the school facilities’ of East’s Property.”
Gerdes noted in her ruling that there is an RTD bus stop “less than 500 feet from where [Luis] was shot,” which she said “corroborates that these two roadways were intended for use by the general public, and not ‘within the school facilities.’”
As such, Gerdes ruled that Luis’ family cannot invoke the Claire Davis School Safety Act, a state law named for a student who died in a school shooting. The law says school districts can be held liable if they fail to exercise “reasonable care” to protect students and staff from “reasonably foreseeable” acts of violence at school, including murder.
In their lawsuit, Luis’ family alleged that East High “subverted and weakened the security and safe environment” of the school after the removal of armed police officers, allowing “potential shooters to believe they would be able to execute an attack.”
The Denver school board had voted to remove school resource officers from DPS schools in 2020. DPS returned school resource officers to schools in 2023 after Luis’ death and a separate shooting inside East High a month later. Two deans injured in that shooting are also suing DPS.
“DPS extends its deepest sympathies to the Garcia-Bobadilla family and all affected by Luis’s loss,” the school district said in a statement responding to Gerdes’ ruling.
In addition to naming DPS, East High School, and the Denver school board in its lawsuit, Luis’ family also sued a juvenile male identified by a pseudonym and his mother. The lawsuit alleged that the juvenile male shot and killed Luis.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
