'Lone gunman' dead, one other student shot at Arapahoe High School near Denver; target was a teacher

A disgruntled teen who had threatened to kill his debate team coach barged into his Colorado high school Friday, demanded to know where the man was and then wounded a student before killing himself with a shotgun blast, said officials and a friend.
Karl Pierson, 18, was a sharp, opinionated student at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., with dreams of joining the Air Force, one of his friends said.

Feeling that his life plan was ruined by a suspension, he carried a grudge and the shotgun into the school, said Joe Redmond, Pierson’s pal and the debate team’s captain. Pierson missed the coach, Tracy Murphy, but he left a 15-year-old girl critically wounded.
Pierson wanted to get even with Murphy for suspending him in September after he made the threat, Redmond told the Daily News.

“There was absolutely no indication this was tied to Sandy Hook,” Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said. “The shooter that is deceased appears to be the lone actor in this tragic event.”

 

The student fired once and nearly hit Murphy, who managed to escape the building, Llerenas said.
"So when he did that he took one shot at him and missed his head, and he said he felt the wind just go up and down," the custodian said.