Evergreen High School shooting suspect identified as 'radicalized' 16-year-old student

EVERGREEN, COLORADO: Authorities in Colorado have identified the gunman responsible for the shooting at Evergreen High School on Wednesday, September 10, that left two students hospitalized.

Jacki Kelley, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said the swift actions of students and staff prevented a greater tragedy.

Authorities identify 16-year-old Desmond Holly as Evergreen High School shooter 

One victim was shot inside the school and another outside the building, according to investigators. Both students were rushed to nearby hospitals, with one remaining in critical condition as of Thursday.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that 16-year-old Desmond Holly, a student at the school, opened fire shortly before 12.30 pm, repeatedly reloading his weapon before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“We're looking at a motive, we don't have one yet,” Kelley said. While the exact motive remains unclear, authorities revealed that Holly had been “radicalized by some extremist network” before carrying out the attack.

“The details of that will be down the road, and we wanted to give you that much about maybe a mindset for him,” the spokesperson explained.

Kelley did not clarify what kind of network the suspect may have been tied to or for how long, but noted that investigators face extensive work.

“There’s obviously a lot of work that has to go into looking at his phone, looking ahead at his social media pages, searching his room, searching his backpack. There's just searching his locker. There are a lot of places to look that we hope will just give us better information as to what he was attempting to do and maybe the why. Sometimes we never find out why,” she said. 

Teachers and students of Evergreen High School praised as heroes

Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jacki Kelley credited Evergreen High School teachers and students with saving lives during Wednesday’s mass shooting, describing their actions under fire as nothing short of heroic.

“The students and the teachers at the school were amazing. They did their job, they did it well, and lives were saved yesterday because of the actions they took during their lockdown drill,” Kelley said at a press briefing Thursday. “Lots of kids ran, but the ones who didn’t were in lockdown and were being cared for.”

She further mentioned that the 16-year-old shooter repeatedly “fired and reloaded, fired and reloaded” as he moved through the building. “This went on and on and as he did that, he had to continue to find more targets,” she noted.

The gunman brought a revolver — “not sure what caliber,” Kelley said — along with “quite a bit of ammo” on the school bus that morning. Multiple crime scenes were documented inside the school, and one extended onto a nearby public street.

Investigators confirmed that school surveillance cameras captured the events leading up to and during the shooting, providing a detailed record of the attacker’s movements. “We’re able to track his movement throughout the school,” the spokesperson said.

“I have to believe that when you bring a gun to school and you continue to fire, and fire and reload, and fire and reload, that you are on a mission. We are grateful that he wasn't more successful,” Kelley explained. “We are sad there were any injuries, but grateful there weren’t more.”