A Florida woman who is said to be infatuated with the Columbine school shooting and posed a “credible threat” to the Denver area community and schools was found dead Wednesday, the FBI has said.
Sol Pais, 18, was armed when she was found dead on Wednesday, the FBI said. She died of a self-inflicted gunshot, according to the Associated Press.
The FBI Denver office said in a tweet on Wednesday that Pais was deceased. A spokesperson for the office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier in the day, the FBI said in a tweet that there was “investigative activity” near Mount Evans in Colorado. In a followup tweet, the FBI said there is “no longer a threat to the community.”
Schools throughout the Denver area, including Denver Public Schools and Jefferson County Public Schools, were closed Wednesday as authorities searched for Pais. She is alleged to have an “infatuation” with the Columbine shooting, and traveled to Colorado from Miami on Monday night, police said. A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools said Pais is a student at Miami Beach High School, according to the Associated Press.
Pais did not make a specific threat, but her actions in the days leading up to the anniversary of the Columbine mass shooting raised alarm, police said. Pais is said to have traveled to Colorado, obtained a pump-action shotgun and “made threats in the Denver metropolitan area,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
“She is armed and considered to be extremely dangerous,” police said.
Twelve students and one teacher were killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 by two students in what became the deadliest school shooting at the time. A number of school shootings have followed the massacre, including some that are believed to be copycat attacks. The shooting at Columbine has become a subject of fascination, particularly online among people who call themselves “Columbiners.”
