Columbine High School other schools in the Denver metro area were on high alert Tuesday after officials announced that there was a “credible threat,” just four days before the 20th anniversary of the historic school shooting.
Police are searching for an 18-year-old woman, Sol Pais, who investigators believe traveled to Colorado last night and “made threats to the Denver metropolitan area,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office said on Facebook Tuesday. Pais is believed to be “armed and considered to be extremely dangerous.”
Pais allegedly has a fascination with the Columbine shootings, and the FBI believes that she is working to buy guns, the Denver Post reported. Police say that Pais was last seen in the foothills of Jefferson County.
Schools districts across the Denver metro area were placed on lockout after the threats; the Denver Post reported over 20 schools were affected. Under lockout procedure, students are gathered inside of their school in order to protect them from a threat that is believed to be outside the building. All of the school’s students are safe, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office said on Facebook.
On April 20, 1999, a pair of students rampaged through the school, murdering 12 of their classmates and a teacher and wounding 24 before killing themselves. The massacre was the deadliest school shooting in American history to that point in time. It has been followed by many others- including some which are believed to have been copycat attacks.
Hours before the threat emerged, 2020 presidential candidate and former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper met with survivors and family members of mass shootings to commemorate the anniversary of the tragedy.
