Ajit Karn
Los Angeles: Wednesday in Colorado, police were pursuing a student who shot and then fled after wounding two school employees, the latest instance of gun violence to disrupt US education.
The unidentified adolescent was being patted down as part of a search for weapons when he produced a handgun and opened fire, according to police in a western US state.
“At approximately 9:50 this morning, a report of a shooting at East High School was broadcast,” said Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas.
“When officers and medical personnel arrived on the scene, they discovered two adult males suffering from gunshot wounds.”
One of the men, school administrators, was transported to the hospital in critical condition.
According to Thomas, the suspect was subject to an agreement requiring that he be inspected for weapons daily upon entering school.
Typically, he said, these agreements are formed out of concern for past conduct.
Mayor of Denver Michael Hancock stated that authorities regarded the suspect to be “armed and dangerous.”
He told reporters, “We now know he is an African-American youth because he wears an Afro and a hoodie with an astronaut on it.”
“We ask that you refrain from approaching him. As we learned this morning, he is obviously equipped, threatening, and willing to use the weapon,” Hancock added.
A 16-year-old pupil was fatally shot in his vehicle outside East High School just weeks before Wednesday’s shooting.
The school has cancelled classes for the remainder of the week, according to Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero.
When students return for the remainder of the school year, armed officers will be present on campus, he added.
As part of a national reckoning over race and policing in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, the Denver Post reported in 2020 that the city’s elected school board voted to remove police officers from schools.
The Post reported that board members argued the presence of officers was detrimental to pupils of colour.
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School shootings are alarmingly prevalent in the United States, despite public outrage in the aftermath of high-profile massacres such as Sandy Hook and Uvalde.
Nationwide, students are taught how to respond to a “active shooter” on campus, and the debate over arming instructors persists.
Conservative voices argue that a constitutional right to bear arms cannot be infringed upon, despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of Americans support stricter gun ownership regulations.
