On Wednesday, Sept. 10, a 16-year-old student carried a gun and ammunition to Evergreen High School in Colorado and shot two students, hospitalizing them. The two students survived, and one was released that night while the other lay in critical condition. The shooter died in the hospital after a self-inflicted gun wound.
The shooter engaged with a significant amount of online media promoting violence, white supremacy, antisemitism, and Neo-Nazism. He also appeared fascinated by the Columbine mass shooting, when in 1999, two students killed 12 fellow students, one teacher, and wounded 21 others with semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and explosives. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office described the shooter as having been radicalized by this media.
Two parent groups raised concerns about resource officers the night before the shooting after a bullet casing was found in the stairwell. The evidence of the shooter’s views and concerns about an imminent attack demonstrate a complete nationwide failure to prevent deadly firearms from reaching dangerous individuals and vulnerable areas…