Claire Davis, the only victim injured from last Friday’s shooting at Arapahoe High School, is in stable condition but remains in a coma at Littleton Adventist Hospital, according to a statement released by her parents.
At approximately 12:33 p.m. Friday, a male gunman entered the high school armed with a shotgun, machete and three molotov cocktails.
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The gunman asked for librarian and debate coach Tracy Murphy. After hearing that the gunman was looking for him, Murphy left the building, hoping to lead the danger away from the school.
The gunman then injured Davis, and later was believed to have taken his own life at 12:44 p.m.
Students were evacuated and many met their parents at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church.
With her mother’s arms around her and brother at her side, Chloe Dechiro walked down University Boulevard after leaving the church.
“I’m still really shaken up from it,” Dechiro said, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
“It’s been a long day,” her brother Riley Dechiro added.
Students who were in the school shared with their parents what happened as they walked away from the school.
“I was going to get a snack from the vending machine right there. I was walking back and got pulled into a classroom,” Arapahoe student Devan Foster said. “Someone came in through the west entrance of our school and was after a teacher and went to the library to get that teacher but that teacher was notified.”
Any CSU student affected by the shooting can reach counseling services, the CSU Health Network or housing staff on campus, CSU President Tony Frank wrote in an email to campus.
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At CSU, 70 students living in residence halls are graduates of Arapahoe High School, according to Dell Rae Ciaravola, senior communications coordinator for CSU.
“My first reaction was, how awful is this going to be?” said Andrew Olson, vice president of the Associated Students of CSU, who graduated from Arapahoe High School in 2010. ” …The students who go to Arapahoe have always been very strong people. They’ll be able to move on from this… but it’s going to be long and it’s going to be tough. I mean, when I went to Arapahoe, nobody thought that anything was going to happen like this.”
Sarah Rossi, a sophomore studying English education, found out about the shooting after she saw a girl crying.
“I went up to her saying, ‘Are you okay?’ and then I heard about it and almost started crying. It’s so shocking,” Rossi said. “Colorado’s gone through a lot. Now that I’m thinking about being a teacher, it’s going to become part of that reality.”
Collegian City State National Editor Skyler Leonard can be reached at news@collegian.com. Campus Editor Kate Simmons and Diversity Beat Reporter Hannah Hemperly contributed to this report.
