Police responded to shooting reports at East High School. Wednesday’s gunfire came weeks after a student was fatally shot last month while sitting in a car near campus.
A student who was under an “agreement” to be patted down each day shot two staff members at a Denver high school early Wednesday morning and remains at large, officials said.
Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said police were called at about 9:50 a.m. local time and discovered the wounded East High School administrators.
“During that search, obviously a weapon was retrieved,” he said. “A handgun was retrieved and several shots were fired.”
The student is a minor and was not identified by police.
The student was under a “safety plan” that required a search, Thomas told reporters. He fled the school but a search is underway to find him.
The weapon was not recovered at the school.
Police did not say how long the student had been under the safety plan but that he had never been found with a weapon prior to Wednesday morning’s incident. As part of that plan, he was searched every morning in the school’s office area, away from students and other staff.
Denver officials did not say why the student was under the safety plan, citing federal student privacy laws.
Mayor Michael Hancock said one of the staff members was stable and the other was taken to surgery. The school district confirmed that the two adults in the shooting were faculty members.
Denver Public Schools told parents that students were in lockdown in their third-period classrooms. The school will begin a controlled release once Denver police allows students to go home.
East High School recently lost a student, Luis Garcia, after he was shot and killed on Feb. 13 sitting in a car near the campus reported. The death of Garcia, a soccer player at the school, sparked a student-led campaign for gun safety reform.
Students led a walkout earlier on March 3 and went to the state capitol to demand legislative action, according to KUSA.