Denver Schools Add Armed Personnel After School Shooting

Earlier on Wednesday, Breitbart News reported that two school staff members were shot at Denver’s East High School and reports are now surfacing that Denver Public Schools (DPS) superintendent Alex Marrero responded by announcing armed resource officers would be placed on campus.

KDVR noted that DPS had armed resource officers until the DPS board voted to remove them in 2020. The officers remained on campus until 2021.

KDVR listed the names of the DPS board members who voted to removedthe resource officers from campuses:

Auon’tai Anderson
Jennifer Bacon
Scott Baldermann
Angela Cobián
Rev. Brad D Laurvick
Barbara O’Brien
Carrie Olson

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) used Twitter to criticize gun violence and called for more to be done shortly after Wednesday’s shooting. Gun Owners of America replied to Hickenlooper by noting the school’s armed defense–school resource officers–had been removed in 2021:

Actually, the school district removed School Resource Officers (a.k.a. good guys with guns) from the school in 2021. That's a change that clearly DID NOT work. Let's empower teachers & parents to defend our kids as well! https://t.co/BQDy3Pf1Ps

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) March 22, 2023

Chalkbeat Colorado observed that DPS superintendent Alex Marrero responded to Wednesday morning’s shooting by announcing the school resource officers will be placed back on campuses.

Marrero told school board members he is “committing to having an armed officer at each comprehensive high school.” He made clear that East High School, in particular, would have two armed officers on campus each day for the rest of the school year.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

COMMENTS