Deer Creek MS students to return to class Monday

JEFFERSON COUNTY – Deer Creek Middle School will reopen Monday, but the school Friday will offer students and their families a chance to revisit the site of Tuesday’s tragedy that left two students recovering from gunshot wounds.

Friday’s four-hour opening will give students a chance to retrieve belongings they left behind during the chaos that followed the shooting and reconnect with teachers to help ease the potentially traumatic return to school.

The suspected gunman, Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood of Hudson, remains in Jefferson County jail a day after his bail was set at $1 million.

Prosecutors expect to file charges of attempted first-degree murder against Eastwood when he appears in court Monday morning, said Pam Russell, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.

Eastwood was subdued by staff members at the school about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, moments after he fired a high-power, bolt action rifle twice outside the school, wounding Matt Thieu, 14, and Reagan Weber, 13, as they left the school as classes were being dismissed.

Reagan, who was hit in the arm by shrapnel from a Eastwood’s first shot, was treated at a Littleton hospital and released that night. Matt remains at Children’s Hospital in Denver in fair condition with a side wound and lung damage.

The Weber family issued a statement through the Sheriff’s Department Friday, saying: “Reagan is holding up very well both physically and emotionally. She constantly surprises us with her strength and composure under great stress.

“The rest of our family is also coping well – with the support of some wonderful neighbors, relatives, friends, and folks from around the city and state who have sent gifts and notes of encouragement.

“Reagan wants to specifically thank her closest friends (you know who you are) and also Mrs. Adkins and Dr. Benke for their special courage. We send our warmest sympathies and sincere hopes for the full recovery of Matt. Hopefully he can go home soon.

The statement also expressed the family’s thanks for “all of the Deer Creek Middle School staff, the bus drivers, the Fire Department, Littleton Police officers, the doctors and nurses at Littleton Hospital (they are the best!!) and the men and women of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department..

”All of you deserve far more recognition than you get for the support you provide to our community. Reagan wants you to know that she thinks you are totally AWESOME. Peace, Joy, and Love the Weber’s — Craig, Deborah, Taylor, Morgan, and Reagan.”

Investigators said Thursday Eastwood entered the school shortly before the shooting and checked in at the office, identifying himself as a former student. But the suspect walked out of the building a short time later and allegedly returned with the rifle and began shooting.

The suspect managed to get off only two shots before math teacher Dave Benke, with the help of other school employees and a contract crew working nearby, subdued Eastwood until Jeffco deputies arrived on the scene, said Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Jacki Kelley.

As the first shot rang out, bedlam broke out and students began running from the scene, according to Kelley. A second shot struck Matt, reportedly as he fled toward the shelter of a of a number of school buses lined up nearby.

Benke said Wednesday he regrets he couldn’t reach the gunman before the second shot was fired, but knew he had time to drop the gunman before he could chamber another round in the bolt-action rifle.

“It bothers me that he got the second shot off and that’s the one that got Matt,” Benke said during a press conference at Jeffco Schools’ headquarters.

A number of nearby faculty members took charge of the scurrying students, ordering some back inside the school, where they were locked down inside classrooms and offices. Other students were directed away from the school to waiting buses and still others were told to hit the ground, curl up and remain still and quiet to avoid attracting the gunman’s attention.

“The staff of Deer Creek Middle School had a nightmare experience and in that nightmare, they behaved with such skill and such courage and practiced everything they knew how to do,” said Dr. Cynthia Stevenson, Jeffco schools superintendent.

“Because of our staff at Deer Creek Middle School, we have children today who are with their parents.”

Stevenson called the actions of the faculty, bus drivers and maintenance employees a “vivid symbol of how good our staff is.”

Deer Creek MS is only three miles from Columbine High School, where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 of their classmates and a teacher before taking their own lives 11 years ago and the school district’s post-Columbine training has been cited as a factor in the staff’s fast response.

Authorities credit Benke, a 6-foot-5 former college basketball player with ensuring Tuesday’s shootings did not result in a worse tragedy.

Benke, who was on parking-lot duty outside the school when the gunman fired his first shot, responded immediately, sending his hefty frame flying into the slightly built suspect. Eastwood stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 120 pounds, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Benke told reporters he was not a hero during an interview after investigators debriefed him Tuesday night.

But school officials and investigators praised Benke’s fast action and that of other school employees who helped subdue and hold the suspect until deputies arrived.

“I want to thank you for doing the right thing, you saved a lot of lives and I want to personally thank you,” said Sheriff Ted Mink, who approached Benke as the teacher was talking to reporters late Tuesday.

The unemployed suspect lived on his father’s ranch near Hudson for the past five years, doing chores for room and board while trying to get his high school Graduate Equivalent Diploma.

Deputies searched that house Wednesday and removed what Kelley said is evidence in the case.

Eastwood’s father told a television reporter his son has a history of mental problems.

The rifle believed used in the attack at the school belongs to Eastwood’s father, according to the Sheriff’s Department.