A few hours ago, the students of Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado underwent a traumatic experience. Their school was filled with the sound of gun fire.
Police say a suspect – armed with a shotgun – entered the west side of the school around 12:30 p.m. and asked for a specific teacher by name. He made no effort to conceal the weapon he carried with him.
The teacher, after learning that he was being asked for by the student and that the student was armed, immediately implemented “active-shooter protocols.” According to some, the teacher then fled, trying to lure shooter away from school.
A 15- or 16-year-old female student, who was in the immediate area of the gunman, was shot, as was a second victim. It is not clear if there was a third victim of the shooter, before he shot and killed himself.
The first victim was transported to the hospital in critical condition. That student is currently undergoing surgery. The second victim was also transported to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood but with minor injuries. Police said they are hoping that victim will be released by the end of Friday.
About 20 minutes after police began searching Arapahoe High School, police found the gunman who was a student at Arapahoe High, in a classroom, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. There were no shots fired by police.
The school shooting comes one day before the one year anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. About 2,200 students attend the school in the Denver metropolitan area.
Police believe the suspect acted alone, and there are no other threats at this time. The name of the shooter has not yet been released by police. We will update you as soon as we know more.
UPDATE!!!!! We have just heard that the teacher the shooter was looking for was Tracy Murphy, school librarian. This has not been confirmed by police. The shooter was later identified as Karl Pierson, 18. Check him on Facebook now.
Arapahoe senior Karl was part of the cross country tea, Speech and Debate team where Tracy Murphy was coach at, apparently Pierson who injured two classmates before turning the gun on himself came to school asking for Mr. Murphy, Pierson was mad at him for demoted and kicking him out of the debate team early this week.
Karl half-jokingly threatened to kill Mr Murphy, and Mr Murphy got him suspended for saying that,’ Pierson’s friend and teammate Joe Redmond told The New York Daily News.
‘Karl wanted to go to the Air Force Academy and they don’t look positively on suspensions so (Karl) felt like Mr Murphy had ruined his life.’
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