FBI says woman who threatened Columbine was ‘infatuated’ with the shooting. She’s still at large.
Authorities are searching for a woman who they say made a “credible threat” to Columbine High School and more than 20 other schools in Colorado’s Jefferson County, a scare that comes just days before the 20th anniversary of one of the country’s deadliest school shootings.
Police identified the suspect as 18-year-old Sol Pais, who they said traveled to Colorado and threatened the schools. They described her as “armed” and “extremely dangerous” and said she was last seen in the county’s foothills, clad in camouflage pants, black boots and a black T-shirt.
Authorities said Pais is “infatuated” with the Columbine shooting, the Denver Post reported, and she apparently tried to purchase a firearm.
The threat, which the FBI said was “not isolated to one school or individual,” led county public school officials on Tuesday afternoon to place Columbine and nearby schools on “lockout,” which they said means classes would continue as usual inside while entries to and exits from the building would be restricted.
“We are currently investigating what appears to be a credible threat possibly involving the schools,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet. “Children are safe. Deputies are at the schools. ”
Caution spread to other schools in the Denver area, which also issued lockouts or said they were monitoring the situation.
The FBI is leading the investigation, said Mike Taplin, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment, but the Colorado Education Department said in a tweet that the threat came from “an individual identified by the FBI. ”
Two hours after announcing the lockouts, the school system reported that all students and staff were safe, adding that students would be released from the schools and buses would run on their normal schedule, though some may be slightly delayed. Officials said extra security would be present on the affected campuses.
After-school activities and sports practices would also continue as scheduled – except at Columbine, where they were canceled for the day, the school said.
Since April 20, 1999, when two gunmen stormed Columbine, killing 13 people and wounding 24, threats of violence have become a painful fact of everyday life for the high school and the highly trained security team tasked with keeping it safe.
“Getting threats is not out of the normal for Columbine High School,” Taplin said.
The 20th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine is Saturday. As the district prepares for the day’s memorial events, it is fending off an onslaught of curious strangers who trespass in the school’s parking lot – sometimes more than 30 people in a day. Some say they just want to pay their respects, but others claim they are in love with the shooters – or sometimes that they have been reincarnated with the shooters’ souls.
The district has also seen an increase in threats and concerning messages, which often come in the form of emails to the school or phone calls to the 24-hour dispatch center run by the district’s security team.
The frequency of threats means the 1,700 students at Columbine are accustomed to lockouts, when the exterior doors of the building are locked, and lockdowns, when the interior classroom doors are secured.
The safety unit run by Jefferson County Public Schools is considered one of the most sophisticated school security systems in the country. Officials emphasize taking every threat – no matter how vague – seriously.
That system was tested in December, when Columbine High School went into lockout for hours on a Thursday. Two threats were made to the school: One call said there was a bomb inside the building, and another said there was a person with a gun outside. The threats were quickly investigated and found to be not credible.
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The Washington Post’s Mark Berman contributed to this report.
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