EVERGREEN — The 16-year-old boy who shot two students and then himself at Evergreen High School this week appeared to espouse white supremacist views online and showed an interest in mass shooters in the days before the attack.
Sept. 12 update: 2 students injured in Evergreen High School shooting remain in critical condition
An image from a TikTok account appears to show Desmond Holly, the 16-year-old Evergreen High School shooter. (Image via TikTok)
Social media accounts that appear to be connected to shooter Desmond Holly are littered with references to mass shootings and antisemitic views, The Denver Post found.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jacki Kelley on Thursday said Desmond had been “radicalized through an extremist network,” but declined to offer any additional details. The public accounts offer some insight into what that radicalization might he included.
In one photo posted on TikTok five days ago, Desmond appears to be wearing a black T-shirt with the word “Wrath” written in red across the chest — similar to what one of the attackers wore in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, also in Jefferson County. The same post also includes an image of the 15-year-old who killed two people and injured six more at a Madison, Wisconsin, school in December.
A post on X about an hour before Wednesday’s attack shows an image of a hand holding a revolver — the type of weapon that authorities confirmed Desmond used during the attack. Representatives for the sheriff’s office did not answer specific questions about the social media accounts.
The accounts also include references to Holocaust denial, and the name of one of the accounts appeared to end with a reference to a prominent white supremacist slogan. That account reposted several videos showing school shooting scenes from movies, as well as another video that appeared to show the two Columbine shooters taking target shots at bowling pins. Other videos the account reposted were explicitly antisemitic or depicted people in Nazi uniforms.
Sheriff’s officials on Thursday said Desmond shot two of his schoolmates — including 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone — before turning the gun on himself. Desmond later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The attack at the school started at 12:24 p.m. Wednesday. Students ran and hid, hunkering down in classrooms behind locked doors.
Matthew Silverstone, 18, one of the two students shot at Evergreen High School. (Photo courtesy of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office)
Kai Taylor, a 15-year-old sophomore, was eating lunch with friends outside the school in the Jefferson County foothills when he got a frantic call from his twin sister asking if he was OK.
He said he laughed and told her he was fine, but she grew more serious, saying there was an active shooter at the school and she needed to know if he was hurt.
Kai’s heart dropped, he said. Then he saw his peers running.
Armed with a revolver, Desmond systematically reloaded and fired as he wandered the three-level school, trying to find new targets, Kelley said. His exact path through Evergreen High is not yet known, she said, but the teen shooter’s movements were captured by the school’s surveillance cameras. That video is being reviewed by investigators.
“He would fire and reload, fire and reload, fire reload,” Kelley said. “This went on and on.”
The school’s lockdown procedures prevented the shooter from reaching many of the students, but two were critically injured and are being treated at Denver-area hospitals, Kelley said.
Silverstone’s family issued a statement through the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon requesting privacy.
“The family appreciates the community’s concern and support, but as we remain focused on our loved one’s recovery, we respectfully request privacy as we continue to heal and nigate the road ahead,” the statement said.
Sheriff’s officials said later Thursday that the family of the second victim, who has not been publicly identified, sought privacy, and that the agency would not be releasing a photo or family statement.
Paramedics took both victims and Desmond to CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, where Desmond later died from his injuries.
One victim remained in critical condition at St. Anthony Hospital, Dr. Brian Blackwood said in a news briefing Thursday. The second victim was transferred to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, where that student remained in critical condition Thursday, hospital officials said in a statement.
One victim was shot inside the school and the other was shot in the street behind Evergreen High while attempting to flee, Kelley said.
‘I was so scared’Kai was one of the dozens of students who fled the high school. He said he took off running toward a nearby neighborhood. He heard a gunshot and willed himself to run faster.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has identified the Evergreen High School shooter as 16-year-old Desmond Holly. (Image courtesy of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office)
“I felt like I was going limp,” he said. “I felt like I was going to fall over. I was so scared.”
His twin sister had run in the opposite direction. Kai felt panicked that he had lost track of her.
“I was really worried for my sister’s safety,” he said.
He and his friends sheltered in the home of a nearby neighbor.
Kai is accustomed to annual active shooting drills. He never expected to he to use the information he learned.
“I felt like I was prepared, but it’s just so different when it actually happens,” he said.
Kai stood silently with his bike on Thursday as news crews packed up their equipment near his school.
“I just thought I needed to come down here and see it,” he said. “My heart beats when I look at the school. I feel so nervous to go back. It almost doesn’t feel real. It’s like a dream.”
Family members and loved ones wait in line to reunite with students outside Bergen Meadow Elementary School after a shooting at Evergreen High School in Evergreen on Sept. 10, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
‘Finding spent rounds, unspent rounds’
Authorities are still determining Desmond’s motive and said he brought a significant amount of ammunition with him to the school, where he fired in several areas with a revolver. Kelley said she did not know the total number of shots he fired.
“The reason we he so many crime scene areas inside is because we he windows shot out, we he lockers that were shot up, we’re finding spent rounds, unspent rounds,” Kelley said. “It’s a huge area.”
Hundreds of law enforcement officers responded Wednesday to Evergreen High School at 29300 Buffalo Park Road. Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies were on the scene just minutes after the first 911 call.
A school resource officer was not at Evergreen High when the shooting started. Kelley said the school’s full-time deputy is on medical lee, and multiple part-time officers are filling in the gap.
The officer working Wednesday was dispatched to a nearby accident between 10:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m., a routine task for school resource officers, Kelley said. The officer did not break policy, she said.
Desmond lived with his family in a sprawling mountain home, tucked away on a private lane near Kittridge, property records show. His parents and other family members did not return requests for comment Thursday. Kelley said investigators will explore how Desmond accessed the gun and whether his parents could face criminal charges.
Law enforcement searched the home Wednesday evening, but the details of what they found inside were not ailable Thursday, Kelley said. Investigators also he warrants to search Desmond’s phone and locker.
“We can’t say yet whether this feels more targeted or more random,” Kelley said. “But… it seems like it could be a bit of both.”
The investigation continues after a shooting at at Evergreen High School in Evergreen on Sept. 10, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
School closed, resource center opened
Evergreen High School will be closed the rest of the week, Jefferson County Public Schools announced. Kelley said the school needs aesthetic renovations before students can come back, including repairing broken windows, fixing lockers with bullet holes, and cleaning up “fluids.”
Another eight schools in the Conifer and Evergreen areas were also closed Thursday.
A resource and information center will operate for two days out of Bergen Meadow Elementary’s old building at 1928 S. Hiwan Drive, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. That building was the reunification point for families and Evergreen students on Wednesday.
The center will host victim advocates, mental health professionals, victim compensation representatives and school personnel from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, sheriff’s officials said. It’s open to all students, faculty, families and community members.
It’s unclear when students will be able to re-enter the high school to retrieve their personal belongings, but that information will be ailable at the elementary school, sheriff’s officials said.
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“We will do what we can as a community to heal from this,” Kelley said. “It really sucks that we’re here again.”
Hundreds of members of the Evergreen community trickled into Buchanan Park for a vigil on a cool, cloudy Thursday evening.
People embraced, tears streaming down their faces, as they recounted how the previous day’s events impacted them. Some students had fled the school or had siblings who did. Other attendees were teachers, parents and neighbors in the mountain town who were looking for support during difficult times.
Faith leaders took to the stage to pray and sing together. And Gov. Jared Polis walked through the crowd, meeting with constituents who shared their grief with him.
“There is no answer for these kinds of horrific, violent acts, but we can find consolation in one another,” Polis said. “Together, we will get through this.”
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Originally Published: September 11, 2025 at 7:49 AM MDT