No Injuries Reported After Driver Crashes Into Freakys Store In ParkerNo one was injured on Tuesday night after a driver crashed into the Freakys store in Parker. More Avalanche, Nuggets Fans Can Attend Playoffs At Ball Arena, Capacity Increased To 10,500More fans can head to Ball Arena for the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets playoff games. Capacity has been increased to 10,500 fans. After Scoring Barrage By Damian Lillard, Aaron Gordon Told Denver Nuggets Coaches At Halftime 'I Got Him'The Nuggets had a problem: they had no answer for the barrage of shots Damian Lillard was making. It wasn't until Aaron Gordon spoke up at halftime that things changed. Michael Porter Jr. Comes in Third In Voting For NBA's Most Improved AwardDenver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. came in third in voting for the NBA's Most Improved Award. WATCH: Shaq Tries To Address Nikola Jokic In Serbian During Postgame InterviewThe Inside The NBA analyst took a shot at congratulating Jokic in his native language. It had mixed results. 'Numbers Don't Lie': Former Denver Nugget Star Fat Lever Pulls For Nikola Jokic As MVPNikola Jokic is one of three finalists for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award.<doc-sep>HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. – A woman claiming to be a parent of a STEM School student warned school district administrators in December about what she described as rampant bullying, drug use and her fears of a “a repeat of Columbine” at the semi-autonomous charter school. The anonymous complaints alarmed authorities enough that they requested an investigation by police and school officials. It’s not yet clear whether there’s any connection between the woman’s complaints and the Tuesday attack at the school that killed one student and injured eight others. Two students accused in the attack remain jailed and are expected to be formally charged Friday. As a charter school, the STEM School is largely exempt from the rules and policies governing neighboring public schools, although it is still accountable to the district via a legal agreement. STEM School officials in January adamantly rejected the woman’s concerns and sued her for defamation, according to court records and a letter sent by district officials to the school and obtained by USA TODAY. Because the woman’s call was made anonymously, STEM School officials asked a judge to subpoena phone records to find her. Mass shootings:11 days. 3 shootings. 3 heroes. The caller told district officials that the school’s high-pressure environment was creating a “perfect storm” because of drug use, peer pressure and an administration blind to ongoing problems, according to a summary provided by district officials. District leaders were meeting Thursday to discuss the shooting and did not immediately responded to requests for comment. “While the anonymous nature of the call and lack of detail relating to some of the allegations limits what can be verified, the concerns expressed by this individual are very serious and need to be looked into to the extent possible,” Daniel Windsor, an administrator for the Douglas County School District, wrote in the letter to the STEM School’s executive director, Penny Eucker. In their lawsuit, STEM School officials called the woman's complaints “outrageously false” and categorically denied them. The case is still pending. STEM school officials have not responded to requests for comment about the shooting or the woman’s complaints. Discovery of the the letter and lawsuit added yet more emotion to an already tense situation for grieving families and students. Wednesday night, hundreds of STEM students attending a vigil stormed out over frustration that it politicized their grief by focusing on gun control. The event was organized by the Brady Campaign, a gun-control group, but many attendees didn't realize that. Police have arrested two STEM students in connection with Tuesday's shooting that left one student dead and eight others injured. Reports:Woman 'infatuated' by Columbine shooting found dead 'You would all be dead':Active shooter training in March for Our Lives PSA One of three students credited with overpowering a gunman at a suburban Denver high school said Kendrick Castillo, a close friend and the lone fatality from the carnage, was the true hero who halted the bloodbath. “Kendrick went out as a hero,” Brendan Bialy told reporters. “He was a foot away from the shooter and instead of running the opposite direction he ran toward it.” Eyewitness accounts detailing how heroic students and a former U.S. Marine helped end the attack at STEM School Highlands Ranch continued to emerge as court proceedings began for the suspects. Authorities arrested Devon Erickson, 18, and a second suspect – a juvenile identified both as Maya McKinney and Alec McKinney – who they say walked into classrooms at the K-12 school Tuesday and opened fire. Erickson, a student at the school, faces a murder charge and dozens of attempted murder charges in connection with the shooting that killed Castillo, 18. One of the shooters was disarmed and subdued by a former Marine working as a private security guard patrolling the school, his boss said. Castillo, Bialy and Joshua Jones minimized the bloodshed by attacking Erickson when the gunfire erupted in their classroom, witnesses said. Jones was shot twice, according to a statement released by his family. Bialy said they fought back out of instinct, and even though the gunman got some shots off, Bialy wrestled the firearm from him and they were able to subdue him. Bialy said he was scared but unwilling to recoil from shooters he repeatedly called cowards. “They lost,” he said. “They completely and utterly lost to good people.” Gov. Jared Polis called Castillo a "hero" for charging at one of the shooters and lauded student Bialy for taking similar action. Their bravery allowed other students to run for cover and hide in closets and under desks. "Colorado will always remember the heroism of Kendrick Castillo," Polis said in a statement. Bacon reported from McLean, Virginia. Contributing: Kristin Lam, reporting from Los Angeles; The Associated Press<doc-sep>Eight students have been hurt in a school shooting in the US state of Colorado, with two suspects taken into custody. Authorities have said the two suspects are students, with CNN reporting that one is believed to be an adult male and another believed to be a juvenile. UPDATE: Denver school shooting: One dead after two students allegedly open fire Deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff's office responded to reports of gunfire at a science and technology school in the community of Highlands Ranch, 40km south of Denver, on Tuesday afternoon. Eight students were taken to a hospital with injuries, local police said. It remains unclear whether there were any fatalities. A man who called into local KOA radio told the station that two people burst into his son's classroom and opened fire, wounding two students. The father said the victims were alive and that students were able to disarm the shooters. A student who was not identified told Denver station KUSA-TV outside the school that the violence had left him "a bit shaky" and "scared", but "glad that I didn't get hurt". Ongoing gun violence The gun violence in Colorado came one week to the day after a 22-year-old gunman opened fire on the Charlotte campus of the University of North Carolina, killing two people and wounding four others before the gunman was disarmed and arrested. The Colorado school, which combines elementary, middle and high school on one campus has 1850 students enrolled, according to the district. Local television showed dozens of police and fire vehicles surrounding the school as deputies conducted a room-by-room search of the campus. The Denver Post reported that all schools in the area where placed on lockdown while police and fire crews responded to the scene. Some of the worst mass shootings in the United States have occurred in Colorado. In 1999, two students killed 13 people at Columbine High School before committing suicide in what remains one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.<doc-sep>
AP A Douglas County, Colo., Sheriffs Department deputy walks past the doors to the STEM Highlands Ranch school early Wednesday, May 8, 2019, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. STEM School Highlands Ranch is the ninth-ranked high school in Colorado, located in one of the wealthiest counties in the country — and now it's been the site of a school shooting. Before two students entered the building Tuesday and began shooting, it was best known in the area for its approach to science, technology, engineering and math. STEM School is located in Douglas County. It’s a charter school of about 1,875 students serving kindergarten through 12th grade. It was founded in 2011 and is currently one of the highest performing in the state, with 70 percent of students reading and writing at grade level and 57 percent on target in math. A sizeable number of students come from outside of Douglas County, drawn by the school’s unique focus. Douglas County, a suburban area located between Denver and Colorado Springs, is one of the wealthiest counties in the country, and the school reflects those demographics. Only 6 percent of students at the school qualify for federal free and reduced-price lunch, a proxy for poverty. The school has far more students identified as gifted than most, and relatively few students get additional support due to a disability. Just over a third of the body is students of color. Almost two-thirds of the students are male. The school emphasizes science, technology, and engineering and math subjects, but has gained a reputation for its innovative focus and being a catalyst for creativity. A big part of the school’s philosophy is a “bottom-up” approach to conducting science and exploration. Teachers are expected to be role models and innovation coaches who provide the framework for learning while students drive much of the inquiry and discovery. School leader Penny Eucker told CPR in a 2015 interview that students today are fast thinkers with “high-clock speed in their processing,” and they want to be part of the decision making. “They want to interact, they want technology and they have less tolerance for the slower delivery of notetaking,” she said. Art is an integral part of STEM School. There are six recording studios where students learn not only classical music theory, but also how to play guitar, bass and keyboard as well how to digitally compose music. Eucker took the reins of the school in 2012, when it was failing and slated for closure. Today it ranks number one in the district on ACT scores and seventh on SAT scores. The school emphasizes interdisciplinary instruction, with teachers pulling concepts from other subjects. For example, in an AP World Studies course, students created and programed artificial intelligence-powered talking heads of Kaiser Wilhelm that debated the merits of entering World War I. “When you walk into some of our sophisticated classrooms where teachers have been at this for a few years, you don't even recognize it as a classroom of your past,” Eucker said. “Many of the teachers have said, ‘Students don't really know what class they're in because the art teachers work with the engineering teachers who work with the social studies teachers.’” The public charter school initially served grades 6 to 9, but gradually expanded to serve K-12 and now has more than 1,850 students. Students are selected by lottery. It’s governed by an elected volunteer Board of Directors representing parents and community members from the Denver area.