One student is dead and eight others injured after two of their classmates opened fire at a suburban Denver STEM school on Tuesday. Superintendent Thomas S. Tucker said in a letter to parents that STEM School Highlands Ranch, a public charter school with more than 1,850 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, will be closed for the remainder of the week. "This is a terrible event," Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said. "This is something that nobody wants to happen in their community." One is a "female juvenile," police said after originally identifying the teen as male. The other was identified by police as Devon Erickson, 18. - School shooting Today in Colorado, STEM School Highlands Ranch, Colorado shooting, Devon Erickson, Denver shooting, Highlands Ranch, Highlands ranch school shooting, What is a stem schoolSpurlock said the suspects entered through the school's middle school entrance, and they later opened fire in two separate classrooms. Police responded before 2 p.m., arriving quickly because there is a law enforcement substation nearby. The two suspects were arrested after an encounter but were not injured, Spurlock said. One of the students was restrained by a school security guard, the sheriff said. Deputies recovered at least two handguns from the suspects, he added. "Everyone thought it was a theater play at first. Then when we just started hearing banging and gunshots and cursing," the seventh-grader said, his eyes red, his shaking hands twisting a plastic water bottle. "There was a body by the door when the police officer came to get us." Outside the school after the shooting, many parents still in work uniforms held tight to their sobbing children. Residents in the area described a scene of confusion and worry.
