Colorado high school shooter used family heirloom gun; parents won't be charged

Shelly Bradbury, The Denver Post on Feb 4, 2026

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DENVER — The gun used by the 16-year-old boy who shot two students and then himself at Evergreen High School in September was a family heirloom, investigators with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.

The Smith and Wesson .38 Special revolver that Desmond Holly used in the Sept. 10 attack originally belonged to one of Desmond’s grandparents, the sheriff’s office found, and was kept in a safe in the family’s home.

Through an attorney, Desmond’s parents told investigators that the revolver was “rarely seen or used and stored out of sight near the back of a large, locked gun safe,” and that their son “did not have access to the safe, except for brief moments when it was opened by his father,” according to a news release announcing the completion of the investigation.

Desmond’s parents will not be criminally charged in connection with the storage of the gun or their son’s access to it, the sheriff’s office concluded. Their DNA was not found on the weapon, which was originally purchased in Florida in 1966.

“There was insufficient evidence to establish probable cause or meet the legal elements required to present the case to the district attorney for charges,” sheriff’s officials said in the news release.

Desmond died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the end of his attack on the high school.

He roamed the halls for about nine minutes and shot in several areas before leaving the building. Desmond wounded a 14-year-old boy who was not publicly identified and 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone; both were seriously injured but survived. Video of the attack shows that Desmond physically grappled with Silverstone before shooting him.

Officials said Desmond acted alone and was “radicalized” before the attack. His social media profiles suggest he was part of a new wave of online extremism that encourages the use of violence to destroy society. The teenager’s accounts were littered with references to white supremacy, antisemitism and violence, with a particular focus on past mass shootings, including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.

In a photo posted on TikTok a few days before the attack, Desmond posed wearing a black T-shirt with the word “Wrath” written in red across the chest — similar to what one of the Columbine attackers wore. The same post also included an image of the 15-year-old who killed two people and injured six more at a Madison, Wisconsin, school in December 2024.

A post on X about an hour before the Sept. 10 attack on Evergreen High showed an image of a hand holding a revolver.

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