EVERGREEN — He was quiet and mostly kept to himself, apart from occasionally asking a classmate for a pencil or exchanging a few words in a quick conversation.
That’s how Owen Peterson described his former classmate, Desmond Holly, the 16-year-old suspect in Wednesday’s shooting at Evergreen High School who Owen sat side by side with during their fifth-period jewelry-making class this school year.
Desmond died Wednesday night at St. Anthony Hospital after wounding two other students and shooting himself.
Owen, a sophomore, said he didn’t get to know Desmond well and didn’t consider him a friend, but he also never pegged Desmond as someone he should eye warily.
“He just seemed like a normal, everyday kid that was really shy and wouldn’t talk to us that much,” Owen, 15, told The Colorado Sun.
Owen sat with friends at a table in the cafeteria Wednesday catching up on typical teen to-do’s, including forming a group chat with about 130 students where they could all keep track of their Homecoming plans later this fall. Suddenly, a muffled message came over the intercom. Owen said he didn’t hear the message but within a moment the cafeteria erupted.
“Every single person in the lunch room springs up at once in a panic,” Owen said.
He scurried out a door with his peers and as they were running, he said he heard the first gunshot 20 or 30 feet from them.
“Right that instant, I immediately know what’s going on,” Owen said.
He tripped, fell and scraped his knee while bolting, but got back up and kept running. While many students turned left at one point, Owen and some others made a flash decision to head to the right down a dirt road. One of Owen’s friends lived down the street and he said he hoped to be able to find safety inside.
Terrified and escaping in a blur, Owen said he caught sight of the shooter, recalling seeing a tall, lanky, skinny male with brownish blonde hair walking toward him and other kids dashing away right before a shot rang out. He didn’t spot a gun, but he saw the person’s hand raised and pointed directly at them. Owen, who kept running while a friend dove into a ditch, said he firmly believes he was looking at the shooter.
“At that moment right before the shooter fired the shot, that’s when I got a glimpse,” Owen said.
Owen came across a stranger in the neighborhood, a man named Mike, who shepherded students into his home. Owen and three others hid in a basement bathroom, locking themselves inside for about an hour and a half.
The massive group chat created ahead of Homecoming turned into a lifeline for students, lighting up furiously with messages from kids trying to understand what happened and whether they were safe.
Owen said upon leaving the basement, police took his group to the police station and later that night, he attended a service at Flatirons Community Church so that he could reunite with his friends.
“Even though I knew that they were OK, I had to see them,” he said. “I had to see everyone.”
On Thursday, when Owen learned the identity of the suspect, he said he immediately knew the boy he laid eyes on in the midst of running away was the person he shared a table with during fifth period, Desmond.
His sense of shock had barely weakened Thursday afternoon. He said a touch of paranoia will likely follow him once he returns to school. But maybe that will fade over time.
“It’s almost like it didn’t happen,” Owen said. “I can’t believe that this happened to us.”
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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