{"id":47323,"date":"2025-09-12T02:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T07:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47323"},"modified":"2025-09-12T05:35:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T10:35:47","slug":"colorado-high-school-shooter-was-radicalized-by-some-extremist-network-sheriffs-department-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47323","title":{"rendered":"Colorado high school shooter was ‘radicalized by some extremist network,’ sheriff’s department says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A 16-year-old student — who authorities say opened fire at his Colorado high school<\/a> on Wednesday, wounding two classmates and then turning the gun on himself — was believed to be “radicalized by some extremist network,\u201d officials with the local sheriff’s office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gunfire at Evergreen High School broke out at about 12:24 p.m. local time, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three students were taken to the hospital in critical condition following the gunfire, including the suspected shooter, who was injured by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the sheriff’s office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheriff’s office confirmed the suspect died in a post on social media Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspect was identified as 16-year-old Desmond Holly, Jefferson County Sheriff officials said during a press conference on Thursday. An image of the shooter was also released by officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials determined the weapon was a revolver that was “fired a lot.” Shots could be seen fired at windows and lockers, authorities said on Thursday.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspect allegedly went through the school trying to “find new targets,” but came upon “roadblocks” as doors were locked and he could not keep shooting victims, the sheriff’s department said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While authorities are still looking into the shooter’s motive, they believe he was “radicalized by some extremist network,” and that he had a “mission,” officials said. Authorities said they are trying to better understand that network, and are searching his phone, home and locker to learn more on who he was communicating with before the shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on Thursday that an “evidence response team and other specialty resources” have been deployed “as part of our response to this incident.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Most importantly, our thoughts continue to be with the two victims injured in the shooting and all those who have been impacted by this horrific attack,” Patel said in a post shared on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheriff’s office said on Thursday “no one has been released” from the hospital, despite earlier reports from hospital officials saying one of the injured had been released. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, authorities said on Wednesday a fourth student was also transported to the hospital with an unknown injury, but the sheriff’s office said on Thursday they “think it’s just three” who were injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family of 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone, one of the victims from the shooting, said they “appreciate the community’s concern and support” and they “remain focused on our loved one’s recovery.” They also requested privacy as they “continue to heal and navigate the road ahead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement on Wednesday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said he was “devastated” by the shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My heart goes out to the victims and their families as they grapple with this senseless act of violence,” Polis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the shooting, the school was placed in a lockdown and officials swept the campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the scariest thing you’d think could ever happen,” said Jefferson County sheriff spokesperson Jacki Kelley at a news conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigators said they have been in contact with the suspect’s family, as officials are “looking into” the ownership of the weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unclear if this was a targeted or random attack, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the FBI and the NCIS are helping to process the numerous crime scenes both inside and outside the school, with the shooting spilling out onto a street nearby, the sheriff’s office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the shooting, hundreds of police officers were on the scene searching each room on campus, according to law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheriff’s department said lockdown drills saved lives yesterday as students locked themselves in classrooms as they were trained to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Students and staff were amazing. They did their job and they did it well. Lives were saved yesterday,” Kelli said on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 16-year-old student — who authorities say opened fire at his Colorado high school on Wednesday, wounding two classmates and then turning the gun on himself — was believed to be “radicalized by some extremist network,\u201d officials with the local sheriff’s office said. The gunfire at Evergreen High School broke out at about 12:24 p.m. local time, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":47324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1301,2100,1408],"class_list":["post-47323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-colorado","tag-high","tag-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47325,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47323\/revisions\/47325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}