JEFFERSON COUNTY - Two students were shot at a middle school on Tuesday afternoon before teachers tackled a man with a rifle outside of the school. Authorities say the man is in custody.
Jacki Kelley, spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, says one victim was found inside at Deer Creek Middle School and the other was found outside the school. Both are expected to survive.
Deer Creek is on West Columbine Drive near South Garrison Street
The victims were a boy and a girl. Both were taken to Littleton Hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Kelley says the parents of both of the injured students have been notified.
She says the shootings happened outside of the school around 3 p.m., which is about when children would be getting out of school.
One of the victims, the girl, was identified as Regan Weber, a seventh grader.
Kelley says deputies have an adult man in custody as the suspect. She says he was taken into custody without much resistance, if any at all.
Kelley says Deer Creek was put into lockdown because of the shooting.
All of the students were taken to nearby Stony Creek Elementary School at West Columbine Drive and South Everett Street. Parents can go to Stony Creek to pick up their children.
Groups of children were sent from one school to the other as investigators cleared Deer Creek.
Parents should not go to Deer Creek to try and get their children.
Reese Ferrin, a Deer Creek student, says he was standing next to Dr. David Benke, a seventh grade math teacher, when the shootings began.
"I was by the crosswalk and the gunman came around the corner and Dr. Benke ran and tackled him," Reese said.
Reese says Benke tackled the gunman first and other teachers piled on top of him.
Benke's husband, Sandra Benke, told 9NEWS he called her just after the shooting.
"He wanted me to know, first of all that he was OK. That there'd been a shooting at the school and that he'd had to tackle the gunman and before he was able to get the gunman down he got a shot off and shot one of the students," she said.
One student says she spoke with the shooter and he asked some students if they went to school at Deer Creek before he opened fire.
Sheri Hasse says her son was on the bus and he saw at least one of the shootings happen outside the school. Her son was kept on the bus as deputies investigated the scene.
Levi Shafter, a seventh grader, was also on the bus.
"I heard a gunshot and everybody was running away, I was a little confused, and then I saw the shooter, I saw him put out a second shot and that's when the bus driver told us all to get down so we got down," Levi said. "I was really scared."
"Some of the teachers tackled him and then the police arrived and arrested him," Levi said.
Tamara Veremeer has a daughter who is an eighth grader at Deer Creek. She says she was parked close to the front of the school and heard a gunshot.
"At that time, of course, I'm not thinking it's a gunshot. I see my daughter and her friends coming towards me and I hear a second gunshot and all - probably nine or 10 of them, just piled in my car and then I saw kids starting to run," she said.
"I could see adults or someone leaning over someone," Veremeer said. "And then I saw a woman come out and pick up a rifle and so that's when I knew this was a shooting."
About 525 seventh and eighth grade students attend Deer Creek.
