LITTLETON, Colo. — A 32-year-old convicted felon opened fire outside Deer Creek Middle School in Littleton, Colorado Tuesday afternoon, wounding two students before he was tackled by a math teacher as he reloaded, authorities said.
Court records show the suspect, identified by Jefferson County authorities as Colorado resident Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood, has a rap sheet that includes arrests for domestic violence, assault, menacing, driving under the influence and motor vehicle theft.
He was scheduled to make his initial court appearance at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning to face multiple charges, including 2 counts of attempted first degree murder.
Investigators say he is not a stranger to Deer Creek Middle school. He has been to the school before, and on Tuesday actually went inside briefly before the shooting. No mug shot was released because photo line-ups are pending with multiple witnesses.
Jordan, a 7th grader at Deer Creek who witnessed the shooting, said that students were waiting outside the school for buses and pick-up around 3:15 p.m. when a man with long hair, wearing a black hat and black jacket, walked up to the front of the school and fired several shots.
“From what I could see he was older, not like a teenager,” Jordan said. “It was a very big gun…looked like a rifle.” Jordan said she saw two students fall to the ground.
At that point, according to witnesses, math teacher Dr. David Benke tackled and disarmed the gunman, and then helped subdue him until police arrived moments later. Steve Potter, a Deer Creek bus driver, witnessed Benke’s heroics.
“Dr. Benke was out there at the time the school was being let out. It looked to me like he heard the shot and decided to react accordingly,” Steve Potter said. “There was a little bit of a wresting match for about 5 seconds or so,” before Benke had disarmed the gunman, Potter said.
Potter, who also helped subdue the gunman after Benke tackled him, said the suspect was rambling incoherently as they held him down. “He was uttering some obscenities here and there, but nothing that made a whole lot of sense to me.”
“School staff had already taken a suspect into custody prior to our arrival,” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jacki Kelley said. “Some staff acted very quickly and very heroically.”
Kelley said the weapon was a high-powered hunting rifle.
14-year-old Matt Thieu sustained a gunshot wound to the chest and was listed in critical condition Tuesday evening. The other victim, 13-year-old Reagan Weber, was shot in the arm. Both were taken to Littleton Adventist Hospital, however, Thieu was later transferred to Children’s Hospital in Denver.
Authorities said Deer Creek and Stony Creek would be closed Wednesday. Mental health counselors will available at schools across the Jefferson County School District.
“As many school districts have learned, you can prepare, you can train, but I don’t think you’re every really prepared for something like this to happen,” Lynn Setzer with the Jefferson County School District said, adding to her praise of the manner in which school staffers handled the crisis. “In terms of being ready, we train our staff members for a number of different scenarios. This is one of them.”
“It’s hard to explain why they would target innocent victims,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink, who was among the hundreds of law enforcement agents who responded to the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. “It’s just mind-boggling to me why someone would do that.”
This is not the first time violence has touched Deer Creek Middle School. In 1982, Jason Rocha, then 14-years-old, shot and killed a classmate, 13-year-old Scott Michael Darwin, with a .22-caliber rifle. Rocha was charged as an adult and sentenced to 12-years in prison.
Deer Creek Middle School is located at 9201 West Columbine Drive, not far from Columbine High School where two students went on a shooting spree in 1999, killing 12 classmates and one teacher.
In September 2006, a deranged gunman walked into Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colo., holding a classroom of students hostage for several hours before killing 16-year-old Emily Keyes. The gunman then shot and killed himself as SWAT officers stormed the classroom.
