Colorado Teen Turns High School Into Crime Scene: 16-Year-Old Desmond Holly Identified as Gunman

Evergreen, Colorado (September 12, 2025)

A quiet Wednesday lunch hour exploded into chaos when 16-year-old student Desmond Holly opened fire inside Evergreen High School, critically wounding two classmates before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot, authorities confirm.

Witnesses say Holly arrived on a morning bus armed with a revolver and extra rounds, then stormed the hallways just after noon, shattering windows and striking lockers as terrified students ran for cover. Police reached the campus within minutes but found Holly gravely wounded; he was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Two students were hit—one identified as 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone—and remain in serious condition. Families have asked for privacy as they undergo treatment.

Investigators believe Holly had been “radicalized by an extremist network,” a detail now at the center of an intense federal and state probe. Officers are combing through his home, locker, and electronic devices to uncover what drove the deadly attack.

The school’s lone resource officer was off duty that day, a gap critics say left the campus vulnerable despite lockdown drills that likely prevented even more casualties.