Suspect in school attack faces string of felony charges

Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood

Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood, 32, Tuesday appeared in court and was charged with 11 felony crimes including four counts of attempted murder and four counts of first degree assault in connection with the shooting of two students at Deer Creek Middle School last week.

Two students, Matt Theiu and Regan Weber were injured in the attack. Regan, 13, was treated and released after treatment of shrapnel wounds inflicted by a shattering bullet and Matt, 14, remains in a Denver hospital, recovering from injuries stemming from a gunshot wound the his side.

Prosecutors also charged Eastwood with two counts of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, unlawful possession of a weapon on school grounds and four counts of committing a violent crime, a sentence enhancer.

County Judge Thomas Vance appointed the Public Defenders’ Office to represent Eastwood and established a March 12 deadline for scheduling Eastwood’s preliminary hearing.

Vance took under advisement a motion requesting that the arrest affidavit be unsealed. Eastwood is being held at the Jefferson County Detention Center on a $1 million cash bond.

Deer Creek Middle School reopened Monday after remaining closed as a crime scene since the incident.

Eastwood was subdued by staff members at the school moments after he fired a bolt-action rifle twice outside the school, wounding Matt and Reagan as they left the school as classes were being dismissed.

The suspect managed to fire twice 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.

“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.