Gunman Takes Hostages at Colorado High School

[SoCalGirl]

(((Michelle))) I remember the shootings here, you were like 15 then??? You poor thing. My thoughts are with the students and families.

[sdsuchelle]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

(((Michelle))) I remember the shootings here, you were like 15 then??? You poor thing. My thoughts are with the students and families.

I was actually a 14-year-old freshman. It was awful. I was at Granite Hills HS, though, where nobody died... although the shooter (who used to be my assigned lab partner in Physics) killed himself in jail.

[DeltAlum]

Later reports are that the gunman killed himself.

His victim was flown by Flight For Life helicopter, which appears to have been standing by on the school's football field) to one of Denver's (I think they call it Level One) trauma centers and was reportedly still alive when she arrived, but the head wound was too traumatic and she died shortly after reaching the hospital.

The Jefferson County (JeffCo to those of us here) SWAT Team, on the decision of the Park County Sheriff, who has a son at the school, "breached" the classroom door with explosives after the suspect broke off negotiations with authorities and a deadline he had imposed was getting close. At that point, the gunman shot the victim and then himself -- after firing at deputies. As I said earlier, JeffCo was the jurisdiction where Columbine is located.

The gunman let everyone in the classroom go, except several girls, and later released four of the six girls he was holding, leaving only two hostages.

The news conference with the Park County Sheriff was very moving, with him barely holding back tears. His family moved to the mountain community thirty-six years ago, and besides his son who is still a student, his daughter graduated from Platte Canyon High School last year. He is quoted as being "scared to death" as he responded to the high school that he had to "do the right thing."

As you can imagine, this has badly shaken not only the Bailey (Park County) community of around 3,600 where everyone pretty much knows everyone else, but also the Denver and specifically the Columbine community as well.

Many of the reporters and photographers, both print and broadcast, had also covered Columbine.

It appears that both law enforcement and the school system had learned important lessons from Columbine, but the waiting for word on thier children was still long and nearly unbearable for anxious parents as busses arrived at a nearby elementary school carrying students who were evacuated from the high school and adjacent middle school. Police used a much more proactive approach after being criticized for not being more aggressive during the Columbine seige -- although everyone was quick to point out that the situations were different in terms of numbers of hostages, victims and gunmen. While several SWAT teams from Metro Denver were at Columbine, it's ironic to me that the JeffCo SWAT team had the lead in this situation as well. It is probably good that this situation was at a smaller school and communications between law enforcement agencies (both county sheriff offices in this case) has improved since Columbine (although they're still not great overall).

A school administrator called a "Code White" over the PA system. The students didn't know what that meant, but one was quoted as saying one look at his teacher's face was all it took to know the situation was serious.

The class the gunman broke into was an Honors English course. The young victim worked as a waitperson at a local cafe and was very popular among her peers and other townpeople.

Names of other hostages were not released by local media because almost all do not release the names of sexual assault victims.

The gunman was not identified, but allegedly was a former Bailey resident who had moved to the Denver metro area sometime in the past.

This incident happened the day after the huge funeral for an Aurora Police officer who was killed while sitting in his car at an intersection by a gunman who just walked up and fired randomly into the officer's personal car. The procession to the Ft. Logan National Cemetary consisted of over 1,000 police cars from all over the country.

It's been quite a week.

[DeltAlum]

The alleged gunman has been identified at 53 year old Duane Morrison, a Denver area resident.

Here is another link, this one to the Rocky Mountain News.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/

[Honeykiss1974]

Goodness. My prayers are with this community.

[valkyrie]

I watched quite a bit of coverage yesterday evening. They interviewed a friend of the girl who died, and she talked about how the girl had been having problems with people at school. It was very strange. Another girl talked about how the guy came into the school and was staring at her -- I think he said something to her but she told him she had to go to class and left, and then he stared into the classroom. That's just flat-out bizarre -- unless everything happened REALLY fast after that, how could some creepy staring guy be able to just hang out in the school? Why would he even be able to GET in the school?

There was mention about a family that moved out there to get away from Columbine. I don't understand why people think a more remote location is going to be safer -- I have always thought (and I have no evidence to back this up) that suburban or rural locations are more dangerous in terms of these tragedies that come from nowhere. There might be dangers in the city, but I think you're more likely to be aware of the possibility and know what the dangers are. I'd rather have that then the unexpected attack from out of nowhere for which nobody is prepared.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by valkyrie

Why would he even be able to GET in the school?

This is a fair question. DA, you seem to be in the know about this whole story. Has there been anything mentioned about how this guy was even allowed into the school to begin with?

[DolphinChicaDDD]

Originally Posted by valkyrie

Why would he even be able to GET in the school?

I was wondering that myself. My school is practically a minimum security prison, as is every other high school in my area. Maybe its just because I've gone to school or taught in urban areas my whole life, but I just assumed that every other high school has simliar procedures.