Colorado shooting suspect was “radicalized by extremist network”, police says

A 16-year-old boy 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.

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

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 Evergreen High School students.

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.

But among the elements released by Jacki Kelley, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, was the assertion that the suspect had been “radicalized by an extremist network”. She did say, however, that more details would be provided “at a later date”, which left plenty of room for speculation.

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 were also said to contain conspiracy, anti-Semitic and white supremacist 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.