Evergreen Takes Time to Heal

Custer County Prioritizes School Safety

by Reggie Foster,
Sangre de Cristo Sentinel

The students of Evergreen High School are learning from home this week as they try to heal from September 10th’s school shooting. The day one of their own took aim at them. With a revolver in hand, a 16-year-old Evergreen student was rapidly firing both inside and outside of the school. The shooter continued moving, reloading, and firing until two of his fellow students lay critically wounded and he turned the gun on himself.

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) completed a study in 2022 on half a century of mass shootings in our country. Early reports indicate that the Evergreen shooter fits most of the data.

• Shooters are usually an “insider” meaning a student or employee of the institution.
• Shooters leak or publish their plans ahead of time.
• They are troubled by personal trauma or in crisis. Radicalization would likely qualify here.
• Young shooters stole guns from their family members.

According to the study: “In particular, K-12 school and workplace shooters were ‘insiders’ — current or former students and employees. That finding has implications for physical security measures and the use of active shooter drills.”

Many have praised the efforts and quick actions of the Evergreen staff and students. Locked doors prevented the shooter from accessing parts of the three story school. Without the locked doors,  he would have accessed many more students and the outcome could have been much much worse. At the time of the shooting, the School Resource Officer (SRO) was 11 months into medical leave and the part time replacement SRO had been called away to respond to a vehicle crash. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has informed Evergreen High School and the rest of that district that they will ensure a full time SRO moving forward.

The Custer County School District (CCSD) in partnership with the Custer County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) already employs a full time SRO with a designated vehicle. The CCSD SRO, Kobe Lewsader, is on duty at the school during school hours and at other events as required. Custer County has the added benefit of the Sheriff’s Posse. Posse members are frequently on campus for additional safety and support of our students and staff. Since January 1, 2025, the Sheriff’s Posse has given 423 hours of safety coverage to the school and its extra activities.

The schools in Jefferson County are required to pay 50% of the SRO’s salary. A cost the JeffCo parents believe the District let get in the way of providing a full time SRO in the small mountain town’s high school. In comparison, the SRO cost to the CCSD is less than 50% for now.  The CCSO applied for and received a three-year Department of Justice COPS grant which funds 75%  of the SRO salary. The Custer County school district pays the remaining 25%. The grant ends in 2027.

In April of 2023, Sheriff Smith requested an independent assessment of the Custer County School District’s security.  Lewsader has been working diligently on the recommendations from that assessment. The school now has locking classroom doors, better signage, and other improved safety measures. The Custer County School District, CCSO and other stakeholders have been proactively working to make our schools as safe as possible.

The NIJ study also highlighted the fact that leakage is a common occurrence with mass shootings. Leakage provides an opportunity for intervention. Anonymous reporting systems may increase the likelihood of leakage. Sheriff Smith wants everyone in Custer County to know that we offer Safe to Tell as a method that students and others can anonymously report. Safe to Tell tips for Custer County go to the Undersheriff, SRO, and detective for follow up. https://post.colorado.gov/le-resources/colorado-safe2tell. Threat assessment teams that intervene with a holistic, collaborative approach to intervention are promising.

It’s important to note the written words of one CCSD parent to the Custer County Board of Education in April 2025.  “As parents, we daily say goodbye to those little people we treasure most in this world, and trust the school administration and staff to make the safety of our children of utmost importance in regard to every decision they make.” It’s a trust that both the CCSD and the CCSO value and will continue to work tirelessly to uphold.