A road-rage argument between two men picking up family members from Rangeview High School turned violent Tuesday afternoon, ending in gunfire in the school parking lot and a fast-moving arrest less than 20 minutes later. No one was hurt, but the shooting prompted a secure perimeter at the Aurora campus and delayed dismissal as police pursued the suspect.
Aurora police said officers responded at 3:46 p.m. Tuesday to Rangeview High School, at 17599 E. Iliff Avenue, for a report of a non-injury shooting, according to a community notification from the Aurora Police Department
. Police said two men were at the school to pick up students who were family members when an apparent road-rage argument between them escalated into a physical confrontation and then a shooting. The gunfire caused no reported injuries, and the shooter fled the scene at speed afterward.
School resource officers moved quickly, developing suspect and vehicle information by speaking with witnesses at the scene. Police used Flock automated license plate readers, city-owned cameras and drones to locate the fleeing vehicle, and employees at the Aurora Police Real Time Information Center relayed its position to responding officers. Police arrested the suspect, described as a 35-year-old man with a last known address in Highlands Ranch, at approximately 4:04 p.m. — about 18 minutes after the shooting was first reported. Officers recovered a firearm in connection with the case.
Campus Locked Down, Dismissal Delayed
Rangeview High School was placed on a secure perimeter for about 10 minutes as police worked the scene, and the school delayed its regular dismissal while officers investigated. No students were injured during the incident.
It is not the first time the East Iliff Avenue campus has dealt with a gun scare. The school was placed on lockdown for two hours one Friday morning after a report that a student might have a firearm on campus, according to the Sentinel Colorado. That earlier incident ended with no one harmed and no gunshots reported inside the building; police detained two boys near East Evans Avenue and South Buckley Road, and one was found to be carrying a BB gun made to look like a real firearm, the outlet reported.
Flock Cameras Already a Fixture at Rangeview
Tuesday's shooting unfolded on a campus that has become a test case for Aurora's use of license-plate camera technology in school security. The Denver Post has reported that Aurora police installed Flock Safety cameras outside nine of the city's high schools last year, with the devices placed on five Aurora Public Schools campuses — Aurora Central, Gateway, Hinkley, Rangeview and Vista PEAK Preparatory. The cameras were installed at no cost to the district under an agreement requiring them to stay on campus for at least two years, per the same report.
Police have said the technology has helped investigators before, including in identifying a 14-year-old suspect in a shooting at Sand Creek Park, the Denver Post noted. The department's Real Time Information Center only receives an alert from the cameras when a license plate is tied to a suspect, a stolen vehicle, a missing or endangered person, or an active criminal investigation, and police have accessed nearby camera feeds.
The cameras have also factored into other recent arrests at Aurora schools. A Flock camera hit at an Aurora high school parking lot led to the arrests of four juvenile boys who attended that school, after a stolen vehicle was detected there, according to the Denver Gazette. That incident, which involved a crash, did not result in any injuries, the Gazette reported. Police officials have said the cameras at school lots are meant to help keep students safe by monitoring who comes and goes.
Surveillance Concerns Persist
Not everyone is on board with cameras watching high school parking lots. Student advocates and civil-rights attorneys have raised concerns about placing Flock cameras on public school property, noting that most high schoolers are minors, the Denver Post reported. The Aurora Education Association has voiced similar worries, with the group saying its members were troubled by the rollout and the lack of community input before the cameras went in, according to the Gazette. In May, officials with Cherry Creek schools requested that the cameras be removed from their campuses, and Aurora police complied, the Gazette reported.
Police used Flock automated license plate readers, city-owned cameras and drones to locate the fleeing vehicle, along with witness interviews by school resource officers and work by the Real Time Information Center. The shooting adds another chapter to an ongoing conversation in Aurora over how far security technology should extend onto campuses where teenagers spend their school days.
