Authorities identified the gunman who injured two students in a shooting at Evergreen High School near Denver on Wednesday as 16-year-old Desmond Holly.
The shooter died on Wednesday, hours after being transported to a local hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. He was also a student at the school.
The two students who were injured in the shooting were in critical condition on Wednesday after being transported to a local hospital, officials said. Their ages have not been released.
During a press conference on Thursday, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Jacki Kelley said investigators are working to determine a motive, if any, in the shooting.
The gunman reportedly used a revolver handgun that he loaded multiple times. Kelley said "a lot" of rounds were fired inside and outside of the school, making it hard to determine at this time if it was a targeted or random attack.
The incident began around 12:40 p.m. local time, when the sheriff's office first issued an alert warning about an "active assailant" in the area of the school.
Kelley said students — roughly 900 of them — were in their lunch hour at the time, so they were located around various parts of the school campus. Once the shooting began, students fled in different directions searching for safety through the wooded areas surrounding the school.
Deputies responded to the scene within minutes, Kelley said.
Evergreen High School does have a full-time school resource officer through the sheriff's office, but Kelley said that individual was on medical leave. There are part-time officers who rotate the responsibility, but the deputy assigned on Wednesday had left the school grounds to respond to a nearby crash.
Kelley said she believes the security resource officer being off grounds was coincidental and not part of the shooter's plan.
A residence where the shooter reportedly lived with his parents was searched by law enforcement. It's located in a gated community about 6 miles away from the school.
Kelley said the family has been cooperating with the investigation at this time. She said she could not provide information on the evidence collected from the home, and could not say where the teen got the handgun at this time, as the investigation is ongoing.
