A 16-year-old student who opened fire at Evergreen High School in Colorado, wounding two classmates before turning the gun on himself, has been identified as Desmond Holly, authorities confirmed Thursday.
“He was radicalized by some extremist network,” said Jacki Kelley, spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, during a press briefing. “But we want to at least give you that much about, maybe, the mindset for him,” she added.
According to the New York Post, Holly, described as a disturbed teen gunman, rode the school bus to campus Wednesday morning — just 30 miles west of Denver — and later unleashed “a lot” of gunshots around lunchtime using a revolver, according to police.
“The suspect brought quite a bit of ammunition with him, and he continued to reload,” Kelley said. “I think we’re very, very grateful that there were not more injuries.”
Authorities said Holly fired from outside the school, striking one student inside the building and another outside. The two victims remain in critical condition, and investigators have not yet determined if they were deliberately targeted or randomly hit.
“It’s unclear if the two victims were targeted or caught up in a random attack,” Kelley said.
While a clear motive remains under investigation, Kelley said Holly attempted to gain access to other parts of the school, but staff and students followed lockdown procedures effectively.
“He tried to enter access to areas that were locked down, but staffers and students did a good job of following training and kept them safe for sure,” she said.
Windows and lockers were damaged in the gunfire, and the building bore visible scars from the chaos. Authorities say it’s still unknown how Holly obtained the firearm used in the attack.
“It was not known yet how he obtained the weapon,” Kelley said.
The shooter later turned the gun on himself and died at the hospital, police said. A driver’s license photo of Holly released by authorities shows the teen with a blank stare, adding a chilling visual to an already harrowing story.
Evergreen High School belongs to Jefferson County Public Schools, the same district that includes Columbine High School, the site of the 1999 mass shooting that forever changed the national conversation around school violence.
Kelley added that the shooter’s family is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
“I have to believe when you bring a gun to school and continue to fire and reload and fire and reload that you are on a mission,” she said.
“We are grateful that he was less successful, but we’re devastated he was successful at all.”
As investigators dig into how and why Holly carried out the attack, the community is once again left grappling with violence, trauma, and the haunting echoes of past tragedies.
