At least two students were shot at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, on Wednesday afternoon, county authorities said, after reports of an active assailant at the campus.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and county emergency communications posted that a gunman opened fire just after noon local time. Emergency communications first reported "an active assailant in the area of Evergreen High School" at 12:40 p.m. Mountain Standard Time and urged parents not to go directly to the school because it remained an active scene.
The sheriff's office later said "at least two students" had been shot and were being transported to hospital; the agency did not provide details on their conditions, and officials had not confirmed whether a suspect had been arrested or identified. A few hours after the initial alert, the sheriff's office announced that "parent student reunification" had begun at a nearby elementary school, indicating the immediate threat to the campus was reduced.
Authorities instructed the public to await official information on the reunification location and not to travel to the high school while police were still managing the scene. Investigators from Jefferson County and other law-enforcement partners were on site to secure the campus and begin a probe into the shooting.
School officials closed the campus and activated emergency protocols for students and staff. Police did not release information about the motive, the weapon used or the ages of those wounded. Medical privacy rules and the ongoing investigation limited what officials disclosed about the victims.
The shooting in Evergreen, roughly 28 miles southwest of Denver, adds to a long-running national debate over school safety and gun violence. Lawmakers, education officials and community leaders have repeatedly cited such incidents when discussing measures to reduce mass and targeted shootings at schools, though debate over policy responses remains politically and legally contentious.
Local authorities said they would provide updates as investigators established facts, and parents were directed to rely on official Jefferson County channels for reunification instructions and the latest information. State and county agencies did not immediately indicate whether any state-level resources had been mobilized to assist the local response.
This is a developing story; authorities and the school district are expected to release further details as the investigation continues and the condition of the injured students becomes known.