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At least three teens are in critical condition after a shooting at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County on Wednesday, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
One of the teens is the suspected shooter, said sheriff’s office spokesperson Jacki Kelley.
“There is no active threat to the community or to our students anymore,” Kelley said.
The first 911 call came from Evergreen High at 12:24 p.m., Kelley said. She said the shooting happened on school grounds but may have occurred outside the school building.
Kelley said a large number of students saw or heard the shooting, and some students said they were shot at. Law enforcement will be interviewing witnesses to understand what happened, she said.
“This is the scariest thing you could ever think that could happen,” she said. “I know we always say not again, and here we are.”
The victims are being treated at CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, Kelley said.
Law enforcement said at least two of the victims are students. The school district said it has not confirmed the school enrollment of any of the people hospitalized.
It is not clear how the alleged shooter was injured. Kelley said she did not believe law enforcement fired any shots. A reunification center to connect Evergreen High students with their parents was set up about 6 miles away at Bergen Meadow Elementary School.
About 900 students attend the high school located 29 miles southwest of Denver.
The district canceled all after-school activities Wednesday.
Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement that he was closely monitoring the situation.
“Students should be able to attend school safely and without fear across our state and nation,” Polis said. “We are all praying for the victims and the entire community.”
Colorado Senate Assistant Majority Leader Lisa Cutter, a Jefferson County Democrat, said in a statement that she’s heartbroken and angered.
“Schools need to be safe places, and this tragedy is yet another reminder that we must do better to protect our kids,” she said.
Jeffco Public Schools is also home to Columbine High School. The 1999 shooting there was one of the deadliest school attacks in U.S. history, though it has since been eclipsed by Uvalde, Sandy Hook, and Parkland. The district has taken on a national leadership role in school safety initiatives.
Colorado does not have more mass shootings than other states, but it has seen a large share of high-profile events, including the Aurora theater shooting and the Club Q massacre.
Colorado lawmakers adopted the Claire Davis Act in 2015, named after a student who was murdered at Arapahoe High School in Littleton. The law gives school officials a responsibility to respond to credible threats and exposes them to legal liability for failure to act.
In 2023, lawmakers expanded the state’s “red flag” law to include educators among those people who could ask a judge to temporarily remove someone’s guns because they presented a danger to themselves or others. However, the law has not resulted in a large increase in what are known as extreme risk protection orders.
That same year, the state created the Office of School Safety to consolidate grants and training and share information about best practices.
A study by the Colorado School of Health found that one in four Colorado teens have easy access to firearms, and of those, half said they could get a gun within 10 minutes.
Chalkbeat National Editor Erica Meltzer and Higher Education Reporter Jason Gonzales contributed to this report.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
