Education
Teen ‘Infatuated’ With Columbine Shooting Likely Killed Herself Before Manhunt: Undersheriff
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A Colorado undersheriff said the Florida teen who was “infatuated” with the Columbine shooting likely killed herself prior to the manhunt that shut down hundreds of schools Wednesday.
Clear Creek County Undersheriff Bruce Snelling led the search for 18-year-old Sol Pais’s body, The Denver Post reported. Officials found her body Wednesday, but she appeared to have been dead for more than 24 hours.
“She had no idea what occurred from late Monday afternoon to Tuesday when a search for her began and to Wednesday when her body was found,” Snelling said to The Post. “The logical likelihood was she was here to end her journey.”
Pais left Florida and arrived in Colorado Monday, where she bought a pump-action shotgun and two boxes of ammunition before leaving for Mount Evans, according to The Post. Her parents reported their child was missing to police that same day.
Law enforcement started looking for Pais Tuesday, who was considered as “armed & dangerous.” The alleged threat was not toward a particular individual or school, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.
Columbine High School along with other Colorado schools were placed on lockouts Tuesday.
Hundreds of schools were shut down Wednesday, according to The Post.
Authorities said Pais was “infatuated” with the shooting that left 12 classmates and a teacher dead April 20, 1999, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader said there was concern over an attack due to Pais’s interest in the 1999 shooting and her purchases, The Post reported.
“A lot of that added up to give me quite a bit of concern,” Shrader said, according to The Post. “Knowing what we knew — until her body was found — there was a belief of a general threat.”
One of Pais’s friends thought officials overreacted by labeling her as a “threat,” The Associated Press reported.
“She never threatened anyone,” Adrianna Pete said, according to the AP. “There are no credible threats and only assumptions that she was just because the word Columbine was included.”
Pete reportedly met Pais online, the AP reported. She described Pais as a person who felt lonely and talked about suicide, but was also kind and brilliant.
The Denver FBI did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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