School shooting wounds two teens

LITTLETON, Colo. – A teacher tackled a man armed with a high-powered rifle just after two teenage students were shot Tuesday at a suburban Denver middle school that’s just miles from Columbine High School, the site of one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings, authorities said.

One male and one female were shot at about 3:30 p.m. outside Deer Creek Middle School in Littleton, Jefferson County Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said. Both students were expected to survive.

Student Steven Seagraves said he was about 10 feet away when an adult approached students and asked them: “Do you guys go to this school?”

When the students said they did, he shot them, Seagraves said.

Seventh-grade math teacher David Benke, a 6-foot-5 inch former college basketball player who oversees the school’s track team, tackled the suspect as he was trying to reload his weapon.

“He was trying to rack another round. He couldn’t get another round in before I got to him so I grabbed him,” Benke said.

The sheriff’s office identified the suspect as 32-year-old Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood, a man they say had visited the school before and was inside the building shortly before the shooting. Authorities have not said what his connection is to the school. He is expected to make his first court appearance this morning and may face at least two counts of attempted murder.

Eastwood has an arrest record in Colorado dating back to 1996 that includes menacing, assault, domestic violence and driving under the influence of alcohol.

The victims, Reagan Webber and Matt Thieu, were both treated at Littleton Adventist Hospital. Christine Alexander, a hospital spokeswoman, said Webber was treated and released to her home, and that Thieu was transferred to another hospital.

Bus driver Steve Potter said he was about to pull away from the school with a full bus when he heard a loud bang that sounded like an M-80 firecracker. Students screamed when they spotted the man with a rifle, Potter told KMGH-TV.

“He looked like he was just kind of looking around for someone to shoot,” he said.

Potter said he saw Benke grab the suspect so he and another man jumped on the gunman and helped hold him until police arrived.

“He’s the real hero,” Potter said of Benke. “All the credit goes to him.”

The school is about three miles southwest of Columbine High School, where two teens – Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris – killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 others before killing themselves in 1999.