Failures All Around Led To The East High Shooting In Denver Colorado

The Shooter

Austin Lyle, a 17-year-old boy who shot two school administrators (allegedly) at East High in Denver, CO after being charged with a weapon felony.

In November of 21’ the police were given a tip through the Colorado Safe-To-Tell program that Lyle was posing with firearms on social media which led to Lyle being charged with a weapons possession felony. According to denverite.com Lyle had a suppressor, an AR15 without a serial number, and a 30-round magazine. My personal feelings on the Safe-To-Tell program are mixed, as its intent is good and in the particular case, would have prevented a mass shooting, but instead of holding the 17-year-old accountable the judge slapped him with probation, or something similar.

Lyle moved to Florida before he was expelled from Overland High in the Cherry Creek School District, Aurora, but returned to Denver Colorado in January 2023 to live with his father where he was accepted in East High under the condition that he would be searched each day.

In the last couple of months prior to the shooting, there were reports that Lyle had a firearm and when the Police requested to check the fathers residence, the father refused.

The Schools

Lyle’s original school, Overland High, has been surrounded by violence, potentially gang related, since last year. A father of one of the students, who tried to save the life of an unrelated boy from a gunshot wound, describes a shootout around the school, “There was a shootout … probably 17-30 kids running around shooting at each other.” - A news article by KDVR

East High, the largest and oldest school in Denver, also has significant upticks in violence, to include assault and felony menacing of weapons. Since 2018 there have been dozens of reports to the police. In the 2023 school year alone, there have been 113 calls from the school for police services due to assault and sexual assault. - A news article from CPR.org

Political Activism

The uptick in violence, at least in the case of East High, could have been a direct result of the Denver School Boards decision to cut ties with the Denver Police because of the wrongful death of George Floyd. A political motivated stunt that had negative second- and third-order-of-effects on the school district, the students, and the faculty.

Interestly, the Denver School Board voted unanimously twice; once to cut ties with the Denver police department and to remove all armed security, and once to reinstate armed security for the remainder of the school year. But the decision was only AFTER the alleged school shooting by Lyle.

This is what happens when everyone thinks the same way and follows the crowd like cows in a pasture.

The Media

What's really concerning is that some students of East High and some media outlets are labeling Lyle as a victim. One student said, “... we know who you really are Austin, Rest in Peace.” and denverrite.com suggest that Lyle is a victim of gun culture where the headline reads, "East High School shooter’s interest in ghost guns derailed a once-promising academic outlook.”

I think his obsession with firearms goes a bit deeper. His original school, Overland High, is riddled with gang related violence and was probably influenced as such, and the failure of police to keep the community safe probably helped the obsession.

The Parents

Not much is known about the parents, but if the reports are true, it sounds like the mother and father are either divorced or separated. The mother was the original person who discover the firearms in 2021 after Overland High requested that she look. The father refused the police access to his residence in 2023 even after the known history of his boy.

The Firearms and Law

So where did he get the firearms? Well as a teenager under the age of 18, he was not allowed to own or possess firearms without the parents permission. The Colorado Revised Statute 18-12-114(2)(a) states,

“A person commits unlawful storage of a firearm when the person fails to responsibly and securely store a firearm, as described in subsection (1) of this section, upon any premises that the person owns or controls and the person knows or reasonably should know that:

(I) A juvenile can gain access to the firearm without the permission of the juvenile's parent or guardian"

So that brings the question, did either the mother or father allow the child to gain access to firearms?

In 2021 as stated earlier, Lyle had several items and all were prohibited for a 17-year-old to own. A suppressor, which is not easily acquired though legal acquisition; an AR15 without a serial number, which could have been assembled with parts that are not regulated (nor should they be) for anyone that has some kind of engineering mind as denverite suggest; and a 30-round magazine, which in the grand scheme of things was probably the easiest to acquire in a gang areas like the area of Cherry Creek.

Where did he get the handgun used in the shooting in 2023?

In either case, this is just further proof that criminals do not care about laws, to think they do would be a completely idiotic thought. Austin Lyle, a criminal, did not care for the rule of law at least 16 months prior to the shooting, nor did he care about the law in any way during the shooting.

In 2021 he told the police that he collected guns! Excuse me, 17-year-olds can not collect guns. Furthermore he also admitted he had marijuana! Again, 17-year-olds are allowed to possess, use, or distribute marijuana - even in Colorado where marijuana is legal in the state. These should have been tell-tell signs and should have given the police probable cause to inquire further.

In Summary

NO NEW laws would have prevented the shooting from happening, but there is enough failed cake to go around in this party:

• The police failed. Although they do have an extremely hard job, especially in woke, liberal, and far left areas like Denver. The judge who let him off with a slap on the wrist bears a lot of responsibility in this case.
• The parents obviously and completely share the blame. As parents, they are supposed to be involved with their child to ensure he becomes a productive member of society.
• The Denver School Board should be ashamed of itself for reducing the level of security based on political activism in the wrongful death of George Flyod, discriminating against all law enforcement due to the actions of some in another state.
• The wokeness culture has labeled the shooter a victim. My personal opinion, if Austin Lyle would have been white, he would have been labeled a monster. The labeling of criminals as victims further glorifies them for other potential shooters to emulate.
• East High bears responsibility as well. The superintendent, Alex Marrero, said, “I can acknowledge that we failed Austin as a district.” Sadly, Mr. Marrero is completely incorrect; he failed the rest of the 2499 students at East High, not Austin Lyle.
• Lasty, the Colorado Representatives have failed and bears the rest of the responsibility. The reason is not because of their failure to pass new gun laws, and they should not, but because they continue to push for more laws that will ultimately fail because they do not attack the problem, they attack the gun and the Second Amendment.