The Park County Sheriff’s Office received a call Wednesday, September 27th at 11:40 a.m. from inside Platte Canyon High School reporting a shooter in the building. Witnesses reported that a single shot was fired early during the incident, but no injuries were reported at that time. The suspect, an adult male, took six female students hostage inside classroom 206 on the second floor of the building.
Park County deputies and Sheriff Fred Wegener responded immediately and entered the school. Deputies determined the gunman’s location and established verbal contact with the suspect minutes into the incident through the door of the classroom. The suspect initially talked to deputies but later spoke only through the hostages. Sheriff Wegener established an incident command at the school’s football field and requested the assistance of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and Bomb Squad.
Students who were not held in the classroom were evacuated to Deer Creek Elementary School by bus. Students in the adjacent Fitzsimmons Middle School were evacuated to the field east of the middle school and then to Deer Creek Elementary.
Deputies maintained intermittent verbal contact with the suspect, through the hostages, for the majority of the incident. The suspect released four students, one at a time, during negotiations. Each girl fled the building on foot. The suspect made threats and indicated that at 4 p.m. “something will happen.”
The suspect indicated that he had explosives in a backpack with him in the classroom. Whether or not there were explosives in the school remains unconfirmed. The suspect’s threats, as well as information learned about the suspect’s actions in the classroom, led incident commanders to prepare to make entry into the classroom. When the suspect cut off negotiations with Sheriff’s Office officials, officials determined to make entry. At approximately 3:30 p.m. tactical teams breached the classroom with explosives. The gunman fired a handgun at entering SWAT officers, and then at the female victim. The gunman then shot himself. During the gunfire, tactical teams pulled the additional hostage from the room and she fled the building on foot.
The female victim was pronounced dead at St. Anthony’s Central. The suspect has not been positively identified. His relationship to the hostages, if any, is unknown.
Victim advocates from multiple agencies have been made available to the hostages and their families, as well as other students, faculty and staff. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation, in conjunction with the Park County and Jefferson County Sheriff’s offices. This investigation is active, and officials are still interviewing witnesses and following leads.
Additionally, officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), FBI, and Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office responded to the incident and some are involved in the ensuing investigation.
