At least 3 injured in shooting outside Evergreen High School

At least three people are in critical condition after a shooting involving an “active assailant” outside Evergreen High School in Jefferson County, officials said Wednesday afternoon.

Hundreds of police and law enforcement officers responded to the high school at 29300 Buffalo Park Road for an active shooting, which county officials first reported on social media at 12:40 p.m.

Three people from the high school are being treated at CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood and are in critical condition, spokesperson Lindsay Radford said.

At least two of the victims are students, and the third is probably also a student, sheriff’s office spokesperson Jacki Kelley said.

Kelley could not confirm if any of those injured were believed to be the shooter and said the school is now being cleared.

Parents and guardians should not go to the high school because of ongoing police activity. A reunification area is set up at Bergen Meadow Elementary, 1928 S. Hiwan Drive.

Agents from the Denver division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also responding to the shooting, spokesperson Crystal McCoy said. Personnel from the FBI’s Denver field office are also responding, the agency said on social media.

In a statement, Gov. Jared Polis said he is carefully monitoring the situation at Evergreen High School and Colorado State Patrol troopers are on scene to support local law enforcement.

“Students should be able to attend school safely and without fear across our state and nation. We are all praying for the victims and the entire community,” Polis said.

In an email sent to parents and guardians at 1:45 p.m., Jeffco Public Schools officials said the shooting happened outside the school and the building is still on lockdown.

Clearing the school will likely take another hour, school officials said.

Wendy Nueman’s 15-year-old daughter, a sophomore at the school, didn’t answer her phone right away after the shooting. When she finally called, it was from a borrowed phone.

“She just said she was OK. She couldn’t hardly speak,” Nueman said, holding back tears. She gathered that her daughter ran from the school.

“It’s super scary,” she said. “We feel like we live in a little bubble here. Obviously, no one is immune.”

This is the fifth school shooting in Colorado since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School that killed 12 students and one teacher.

Before Wednesday, the last school shooting happened at STEM School Highlands Ranch in 2019, when two students brought guns into a classroom, killing 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo, who rushed to tackle one of the shooters, and injuring eight others.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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