A security guard on duty at Arapahoe High School when a student shot and killed a classmate claims school officials ignored warning signs before the attack.
Cameron Rust, who said he joined the security staff last year, wrote in a Facebook post Thursday that Karl Pierson was a known threat, and he holds high school administrators responsible for a lack of action.
Pierson, 18, entered the school Dec. 13 armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, machete, Molotov cocktails and more than 125 rounds of ammunition. He shot fellow senior Claire Davis, 17, and minutes later killed himself, but authorities have said the weaponry he packed was a sign that he meant to harm many. Claire died eight days later.
“Karl Pierson was a known threat for a long time, he should have gotten the necessary help and appropriate resources should have been involved,” Rust wrote in the lengthy posting. “The fact of the matter, people are dead. The decisions that were made did not help to prevent the shooting.”
Rust’s Facebook posting was first reported by 9News.
Rust said he and fellow security officers had reported to administrators that Pierson was looking up guns on his computer in the cafeteria, that he drew “questionable” symbols on his math tests, that he had outbursts of anger and that teachers “can refer to many other incidents that were reported to Administration regarding Karl.”
Rust said Pierson was sent home from school the day before the shooting “due to anger outburst to another teacher.”
Authorities have said Pierson shot Claire, then headed toward the school’s library, where he meant to kill librarian and debate coach Tracy Murphy. Pierson had apparently been harboring a grudge against Murphy over a disciplinary issue related to the debate team and had made a verbal threat against him in September that was reported to police.
Rust said security officers were reprimanded when they documented their concerns and presented them to administrators, who he said told them “not to put things in writing.”
Rust said he has been placed on paid administrative leave and “banned from the campus” because “I would not hug and walked away from principal (Natalie) Pramenko during the Monday December 16th staff meeting and at Claire Davis’ Memorial Service.”
When reached late Thursday, Rust declined to comment on his post but said he would answer more questions Friday.
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