An Evergreen High School senior wrote and released a piano ballad that has gone viral after a gunman opened fire at the Colorado school last week, offering a musical response that students and community members have embraced.
The untitled song, posted online by Judah Cox, had been viewed more than 2.6 million times as of Monday. Cox, a senior who said he turned to songwriting to process the trauma, said he wrote the lyrics at the piano and performed the piece from the heart. "This is how I process a lot of things. I'll just play music. So this was just my backbone," he told CBS News.
Cox was at off-campus music lessons near the school when his mother, Vivian Cox, called him on Wednesday to tell him to stay put. His younger brother, a freshman at Evergreen, was inside the building when 16-year-old Desmond Holly opened fire around lunchtime, authorities said.
Jefferson County sheriff's officials said Holly fired from outside the school with a revolver, striking one student inside and another outside. Both wounded students were hospitalized; Holly later shot himself and died at a hospital, authorities said. Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jacki Kelley said investigators found evidence that Holly "was radicalized by some extremist network," and the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism reported that he had been active on an online forum that combined violent content with posts about white supremacy and antisemitism.
Vivian Cox described the moment she realized her older son was not at school and the panic as she tried to reach her younger son. "I almost lost my children. And that's not what any parent ever wants to think about," she told CBS News.
In the aftermath, Judah Cox said he was overwhelmed as he wrote the song. "When it happens in your hometown on the streets I grew up on, it hits too close," he sings in the recording. "I don't believe it's about inclusion. Lord, I pray it's about reunion with you someday," he added in the performance.
Cox said the song felt different as he wrote it, and that he was "bawling at the piano" while composing the lyrics. He has expressed gratitude to listeners and said he plans to continue writing and performing the piece at fundraisers and other events intended to support the school community.
School officials and local leaders have organized counseling and support services for students, staff and families, and the school community has held vigils and gatherings in the days following the shooting. Evergreen High School is located about 30 miles west of Denver.
The shooting renewed attention to online radicalization and the role of extremist networks in motivating violence. The ADL's Center on Extremism said its review found evidence of Holly's activity on a forum that mixed videos and discussions of killings with extremist ideology. Investigators said they are continuing to review the shooter's online activity as part of the broader inquiry into motive and preparation.
Cox's recording has resonated widely in Evergreen and beyond, with listeners commenting that the song captured the shock and grief felt by students and residents. Cox told reporters that knowing the song has reached a large audience has given him "hope" amid the community's mourning.
Authorities have urged anyone with information about the shooting to come forward as the investigation continues. School officials say they will maintain increased counseling and security measures while the district evaluates longer-term steps to support students and prevent future violence.
