Gunman Holds Hostages at Colorado School
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BAILEY, Colo. (AP) – An adult gunman took at least four people hostage at the high school in this tiny mountain town Wednesday and several shots were reported fired, authorities said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Adjoining Jefferson County sent a bomb squad and SWAT team to Platte Canyon High School and hundreds of students were evacuated.
The evacuation of the high school and a nearby middle school came after a loud noise, said Jan Howard, a secretary to the superintendent of schools.
“I don’t know what the noise was,” she said. She said students were taken to a safe location, but predicted parents would not be able to immediately reach them because the only highway in and out of town had been shut down.
Jefferson County authorities are all too familiar with school attacks: The sheriff’s office handled the 1999 attack at Columbine High School in which two students killed 13 people before taking their own lives.
