DENVER — Families are frustrated by decisions Denver Public Schools made before a student, who they knew had a history with weapons in another district, shot two deans at East High School last March.
Details about those decisions came out in an 87-page report obtained by 9NEWS nearly a year after the shooting.
On March 22, 2023, Austin Lyle shot and injured two deans inside the school. The shooting happened only days after the funeral for 16-year-old Luis Garcia, who was shot outside East High on Feb. 13, 2023.
"To go from Luis' funeral to four to five days later a shooting at East, during school hours, it is deeply personal for the whole community," said Alexander Ooms, whose son played soccer with Luis at East High.
Nearly a year later, Ooms doesn't feel enough has changed to make students safer in class.
On that day in March, Lyle fired a gun when staff members were patting him down for weapons. A report from the Denver Police Department obtained by 9NEWS says before attending East High, Lyle was expelled from Overland High in the Cherry Creek School District for "trying to sell a gun and ammunition."
When Lyle came to DPS in January 2023, school leaders only required Lyle to do a verbal check-in - no weapons check.
Lyle’s safety plan didn’t change until early March, when a student saw Lyle "remove a gun from his backpack and placed it in his pocket while in class” at East High School, the report said.
"It already made no sense to me that a kid who had to be patted down for weapons every day would be allowed to be in a large comprehensive high school," Ooms said.
Harvey Bograd, the father of a freshman at East High, feels the district should have enforced the pat-down policy from the very beginning.
"The earlier you can intervene, the earlier you put in a plan to address potential problems, the better the outcome will be," he said.
Denver Police tried to follow up with Lyle at his house on March 6, 2023 after a student reported seeing Lyle with a gun. Police weren't allowed inside.
Lyle's safety plan was updated that day to include daily weapons searches at school.
Even if officers had found a gun at the home, a spokesperson for DPS said students can only face expulsion if there's a "connection back to the school." A student cannot face discipline based on a report alone.
"For example, if the gun at home is found in their backpack or the jacket that was worn to school that day, that could be considered a connection to the school," the spokesperson said.
Lyle shot two deans almost three weeks after a student reported seeing him with a gun in class.
After the shooting, investigators found a 3D printer, drawings of guns and boxes of ammunition in a bedroom at the Lyle residence.
Ooms said he wants changes to how the district disciplines its students, fearing another call for help could happen again.
"It's been almost a year since this shooting happened," he said. "The discipline matrix has not been changed."
DPS hasn't changed its discipline matrix since 2021. A district spokesperson said a committee of 20 people consisting of teachers, administrators and community members is discussing revising the policies. The group plans to meet on Tuesday to talk about possible recommendations.
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