Colorado high school shooting suspect allegedly “radicalized by extreme network”

A 16-year-old has been identified as the prime suspect in the shooting at Evergreen High School in Denver, Colorado, which occurred on the same day as the high-profile murder of Charlie Kirk.

Officials have identified the 16-year-old suspect who opened fire at a Denver-area high school, saying he was “radicalized by some extreme network.”

— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-09-11T22:57:01.658275271Z

According to the authorities, he had been “radicalized”, one of the only elements put forward during the press briefing.

Less than an hour after the murder of Charlie Kirk

The shooting, which occurred less than an hour after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down at an event at Utah Valley University, seriously injured two students at Evergreen High School.

Authorities provided little information about the suspect, indicating only that he was a 16-year-old student who arrived at the school that day by school bus, and who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the events.

UPDATE: Social media accounts that appear to be connected to the Evergreen High School shooting suspect are littered with references to mass shootings and antisemitic views, The Denver Post found.

— The Denver Post (@denverpost.com) 2025-09-12T01:15:22.659457Z

But, among the items released by Jacki Kelley, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, is the assertion that the suspect have been “radicalized by an extreme network”.

The Evergreen High School shooter has been identified as 16 year-old Desmond Holly. pic.twitter.com/h0tXtrUYvj

— Jeffco Sheriff (@jeffcosheriffco) September 11, 2025

However, she said that more details would be provided “at a later date”, which left room for much speculation.

Social networks

According to investigations by the Denver Post and the Colorado Sun, social networking accounts linked to the suspect are replete with references to mass shootings, in particular the Columbine shooting in 1999, where he posted himself wearing a T-shirt bearing the word “WRATH”, as one of the shooters at the time.

The suspect’s accounts also allegedly disseminated conspiracy, anti-Semitic and white supremacist-tinged content. A few days before the shooting, he allegedly posted on X a photo of himself holding a revolver, accompanied by the caption, the same caliber of weapon used in the attack.