Evergreen High School shooter embraced Columbine, antisemitism and white supremacy online
By: Jesse Paul, Olivia Prentzel (The Colorado Sun)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The 16-year-old boy accused of shooting two classmates at Evergreen High School on Wednesday before fatally shooting himself embraced conspiratorial, antisemitic and white supremacist social media content, according to a review by The Colorado Sun.
Desmond Holly also reposted TikToks about the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and posed wearing a T-shirt with the word "WRATH" on it, which is what shooter Eric Harris wore as he carried out the Columbine attack.
But perhaps most ominous was a post on X that an account linked to Holly made about an hour before the Evergreen shooting happened: a photo of a small revolver being held over a table with a box of ammunition on it. It was posted without comment.
A few days earlier, the account posted the same image, with the caption "little .38 special I got."
Authorities say Holly used a revolver in his attack Wednesday afternoon at Evergreen High School, critically wounding two classmates as he repeatedly fired and reloaded the handgun. He then fatally shot himself as law enforcement arrived at the school.
Jacki Kelley, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, said Holly has been "radicalized through an extremist network" before the shooting. She didn't provide details, saying investigators would reveal more in the future.
"We want to at least give you that much about maybe mindset for him," Kelley said Thursday.
Kelley said law enforcement has been in close contact with Holly's family as they investigate the shooting. The sheriff's office posted on social media Friday that "the information flow at this point will be minimal, as we have shared all the releasable information we currently have."
The Denver Post was first to report on the teen's social media activity.
Holly's TikTok account was listed as "banned" Friday morning. The profile picture for the account appears to be an enhanced image of the gunman who killed six people and injured 14 others in Isla Vista, California, in 2014.
Holly was also active on a "violent gore site," which features videos of people dying, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL said Holly joined the site in December 2024 in the month between the shootings at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, and at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee. The organization said the shooters in both of those attacks also visited the website.
Holly commented on posts about past mass shootings, the league said, and his social media posts indicated he began to collect tactical gear. In a now-deleted TikTok video viewed by the group, Holly modeled a tactical helmet and gas mask.
Beneath the post, the ADL said Holly posted comments suggesting that he was close to carrying out his own attack. He liked a comment that said, "You got close to a full setup now man time to make a move" and conversed with other users about how he planned to film his actions.
A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office on Friday said he was "unaware of any knowledge" that the sheriff's office had regarding Holly's social media activity before the shooting. Officials confirmed that Holly used one weapon in the attack, but, citing the ongoing investigation, refused to answer The Sun's questions about whether the shooter's parents knew that he had access to the gun, where Holly got the firearm, how it was stored at his home or if he had access to additional weapons.
Police vehicles remain at Evergreen High School on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Evergreen, Colorado, hours after a shooting that left at least three teens critically wounded. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)
The minimum age to purchase a handgun is set at 21 by federal law.
Colorado law requires that gun owners store their weapons in a safe or with a trigger or cable lock. Unlawful storage of a firearm is a Class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 120 days in jail and a fine of up to $750. Providing a handgun to a juvenile or "permitting a juvenile to possess a handgun" is a Class 4 felony, punishable by up to 6 years in prison.
Just to balance out all the trans-shooter news.
So, it would be fair to say that all of the violence and evil in the world is caused by right wingers.
Wow - remember what supposition and conjecture do, right???
Make sure you tell that to your right wing friends who constantly post that all the violence is the fault of liberals. There has been an almost endless stream of it.
Lately, yes there has...
Do you think that's incidental or coincidental?
I think it's nothing other than bullshit propaganda by the right wingers.
In fact, as you should be aware, the vast majority of political violence in recent decades has been caused by right wing extremists. Start with Timothy McVeigh, Dylann Roof... the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Philadelphia, the 2019 Walmart shooting in El Paso. All right wing mass murders. Eric Rudolph only (only!) killed 2 people but he injured over 100. Then, of course, there was the violent Trumpist invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. This is just a partial list.
Indeed,.. please continue
You're being facetious.
Do you applaud these acts of violence? Doubt that they occurred?
I don't see any reason to continue this conversation.
Of course not...
I'm guessing the parents may have known about the gun or possibly even provided it. Wouldn't be the 1st time.