On Wednesday, October 5th 2016, around 9 AM police scammers in Boulder, Colorado reported a man in a parking on the CU Boulder campus lot, walking around with a machete. After an altercation with a CU sports medicine patient, the man allegedly followed the patient into the Championship Center, a new facility located directly east of Folsom Field, with the weapon still in hand. When police arrived at the scene around 9:15 AM, the man refused to put down his weapon and was then shot. When interviewed, a law enforcement source reported that the man carrying the machete was on "a religious zealot of some kind" and was "looking for sinners".
But it doesn't stop there. At around 1 PM, there were reports of an "active shooter" in the University Memorial Center. The University Memorial Center (UMC) is one of the most popular places on the CU Boulder campus, which contains the CU Book Store, Subway, Starbucks, and other popular places to eat as well as a common area for students to study. October 5th was also the day of the infamous Career Fair, that was being held directly outside the UMC during that time. One student reports, "I was sitting in the hallway when a massive group of students started running to the doors. Finally someone shouted 'there's an active shooter on campus. Get out!'" As fear and terror took over, students and staff all through out the building ran for safety outside. However, when police arrived at the scene, the school reported that the UMC shooter was allegedly a "hoax".
For many, this was an extremely terrifying and surreal experience. And for few, this was a flashback to one of the most horrifying incidents that impacted their lives just six and a half years earlier.
On February 23, 2010, at 3:10 PM, a man carrying a high-powered rifle approached Deer Creek Middle School shortly after school had ended for the day. With hundreds of students standing outside the building loading onto buses and socializing with their friends, the man approached a group of students standing near the building and asked if they went to Deer Creek. After replying "yes", the man allegedly shot one of the students and then turned and shot another a few yards away.
I was standing inside the school when the shooting occurred. All of a sudden, a massive group a students came flooding through the front doors. My friends and I were then approached by our history teacher, who looked just as puzzled as we were as he watched the group of students run toward us at the back of the school. When our teacher asked what was going on, a girl shouted "There's a guy outside with a gun!" It was at that moment went teachers took charge, and began filing students into their rooms, stacking desks and backpacks for cover. A smaller group of us, including one of the victims who was shot, scattered into the science storage room, located between two classrooms. The two science teachers that were with us locked both doors leading into each classroom, and attempted to keep all of us calm. At one point, we identified that one girl with us was shot in the arm. Luckily, we had access to paper towels, which was used to wrap around the wound. For an hour or so, we all sat in the small dark room, horrified. Rumors that the shooter said that he had other people in the school coming for other students and staff quickly circled, and all of us refused to speak in fear that someone outside would hear us. Since this was before many of us either had cell phones or access to social media or news reports, we were all in the dark. For the remainder of the hour, we all sat there silently until there was a loud knock on the door from the SWAT team. As a SWAT team member opened the door, he asked if everyone was okay. When he was told that one of the victims was with us, he carried her out of the room and told the remainder of us to stay there until further notice.
Shortly after, we were lead by SWAT team members to the Gymnasium where we were told to follow in a line and run across the street to a neighboring elementary school.
Although the CU shooting has now been identified as a "hoax", it still brought back plenty of painful memories from the incident that occurred six and a half years prior. As I reflect on this past Wednesday, I think of my former classmates at Deer Creek Middle School, and how we came together over a similar experience that we ultimately were able to rise above as a school and as a community.
