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Sol Pais, the 18 year old woman suspected of making threats Deaths against schools in the Denver area, including Columbine, officials said Wednesday. Investigators approached the teenager Wednesday near Echo Lake Lodge, at the foot of Mount Evans, in Clear Creek County, CBS Denver announced.
At a press conference, officials said that Pais had been found dead from a self-inflicted bullet wound.
Authorities had been notified of the campground in the Arapaho National Forest by a carpool driver who had filed it, and the federal and local police teams were waiting for it to be day Wednesday. before starting an expanded search of the area, according to a special FBI show Denver agent Dean Phillips.
Jefferson County Sheriff
Authorities were organizing a massive human hunt for Florida's teenage girl, which they described as "army and extremely dangerous," claiming she was "infatuated" with the shootings at the Columbine School. The alleged threats led to the closure of a school for more than half a million students at Front Range in the state of Colorado on Wednesday. The threats took place just days before the 20th anniversary of the deadly shooting at Columbine High School, which killed 13 students and teachers in 1999.
Pais went to Colorado from Miami on Monday night and bought a shotgun and ammo shortly after his arrival, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the FBI.
Pais had apparently made disturbing comments about Columbine to friends, family, and social media, said Phillips, and his parents went missing in Surfside, Florida. Police said the parents had participated in the investigation and provided valuable information that led investigators to Colorado. The Miami FBI office alerted the Colorado authorities of the possible threat on Tuesday morning.
Pais bought three single – trip airplane tickets several days in a row, which sounded the alarm for the investigators.
"These unusual actions have worried us," Phillips said.
Phillips said that Pais was in communication with the Colorado Weapons Store where she had bought the weapon before leaving Florida. When investigators learned that she had bought the shotgun, they determined that she posed a potential threat, Phillips said.
Josh Rayburn of Colorado Gun Broker said in an article on Facebook that Pais had legally purchased the gun at the chain's location in Littleton. He added that she had passed a background check and that the staff "had no reason to think that she posed a threat to herself or to anyone else." other".
Local authorities said the threat, while credible, was general and did not refer to a particular school. Schools reacted quickly by implementing lockout procedures and on Tuesday night, several districts announced the closure of schools on Wednesday. Among them were Denver Public Schools and Jeffco Public Schools, for Jefferson County, the district that includes Columbine High.
Schools were to reopen Thursday with increased security.
Jefferson County School Safety Director John McDonald said the community was used to threats at Columbine High, but the community "felt different". He stated that he considered the threat to be a serious threat, as Pais had made a "pilgrimage" to the Denver area and had purchased a weapon near the Columbine campus.
Sheriff Jeff Shrader said that Pais had no apparent personal connection to Colorado, but simply "a fascination for the Columbine area and the horrible crime that took place there 20 years ago".
"We are not a place to visit if you're not a student," McDonald said. "We are not a tourist attraction, we are not a place to come and inspire us."
Barry Petersen, CBS News correspondent, reports on Pais the writings of his blogs celebrate violence and death. Investigators continue to combine her social media and map her business to determine if she has worked with accomplices, Phillips said.
McDonald said closing schools was a tough decision, but the safety of students and staff was paramount.
Frank DeAngelis, who was the director of Columbine during the massacre 20 years ago, told reporters that he was on campus Tuesday when school officials were briefed on the threat. He stated that he immediately consulted with the 15 or so staff members who were on campus when the shooting occurred 20 years ago, before starting to communicate with families. He described the lockout procedures as "clever", thanks to the extensive security training that took place in the years following the massacre.
In 1999, he said, the only exercises organized by the school were fire drills.
But now, "all the time, the kids knew exactly what to do," DeAngelis said. "It was much more reassuring than where we were 20 years ago … the support system is there."
He said that the anniversary of the massacre "takes us back".
"You talk to most of the people who were part of Columbine High School, when this April comes, it's something for all of us," said DeAngelis. "But we have this famous saying," We are Columbine. "For moments like this, it sounds loud and clear."
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