Law enforcement agents patrol the scene of a shooting at the STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday in Colorado. President Donald Trump’s tweet expressing dismay about the shooting came almost 24 hours after the attack. | Tom Cooper/Getty Images white house Trump offers condolences for victims of Colorado school shooting

President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered his condolences to the victims of a school shooting in Colorado a day earlier that killed a high school senior and wounded eight others.

“Our Nation grieves at the unspeakable violence that took a precious young life and badly injured others in Colorado,” the president wrote in a tweet. “God be with the families and thank you to the First Responders for bravely intervening. We are in close contact with Law Enforcement.”


The shooting came a week to the day after a gunman killed two students at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. It also took place several weeks after residents of the nearby Denver suburb of Littleton marked 20 years since the Columbine High School shooting mere miles away, though authorities have not given any indications that the two are connected.

The Associated Press reported that two students at STEM School Highlands Ranch entered the charter school on Tuesday through an entrance without metal detectors and opened fire in two classrooms, killing a senior who reportedly charged at one of the shooters.

Our Nation grieves at the unspeakable violence that took a precious young life and badly injured others in Colorado. God be with the families and thank you to the First Responders for bravely intervening. We are in close contact with Law Enforcement. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019

The sole casualty of the shooting has been identified by authorities as 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo, who has been hailed as a hero for giving students enough time to seek shelter under their desks, one witness told NBC’s “TODAY Show.”

Officials with the Douglas County Sheriff Office told reporters on Tuesday that both suspects in the attack had been apprehended without incident, and Sheriff Tony Spurlock said the suspects were carrying a “number of weapons,” including handguns that neither was old enough to purchase or possess. Spurlock added that neither suspect was known to authorities beforehand.

Trump’s tweet expressing dismay about the shooting came almost 24 hours after the attack, after he’d written slew of tweets earlier in the day lashing out against the various investigations he’s facing, criticizing a tribal lands bill and defending his massive income losses as detailed in a bombshell New York Times report.

The shooting is likely to once again reignite the gun control debate in the country, with several Democrats running to unseat Trump making the issue a centerpiece of their presidential campaigns for the first time in recent memory.