Ponderosa High School student facing attempted murder for ‘explosive device'
DENVER (KDVR) — A 15-year-old male high school student in Douglas County is now facing multiple charges, including attempted first-degree murder, after he allegedly brought a 'suspicious device' in his backpack to school.
The matter closed Ponderosa High School on Tuesday, March 4, and led to an evacuation of the building. Students were let back into the school at about 11:40 a.m. The juvenile was detained by law enforcement that evening.
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The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said that after investigating, the device was found to be explosive, but detectives were 'waiting on final confirmation from the experts.'
On Thursday, the agency announced that a 15-year-old male was being held with no bond and deputies were recommending charges to the district attorney's office of:
Attempted first-degree murder
Possession, use or removal of explosives or incendiary devices
Interference with staff, faculty or students of educational institutions
The threat was reported through Safe2Tell, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
James Allbee, a law enforcement procedural expert, told FOX31's Kasia Kerridge that the sheriff's office jumped into action quickly, and the Safe2Tell report potentially saved 'a lot of lives,' noting a similar crisis in Golden earlier this week that ultimately was pinned on a cardboard prop gun.
'This one obviously is a little more serious and something that required all the resources to be utilized that had already been implemented, which is great,' Allbee said. There's a reason why this is all set up, there's a reason we have Safe2Tells, there's a reason why we have school resource officers and other resources quickly available to law enforcement that allows and enables them to move quickly and to be able to prevent mass casualty type of situations.'
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Denver Field Division also responded to the threat, as did the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
The Douglas County School District shared a letter sent by Ponderosa High School Principal Ryan Hollingshead to the school community after the boy's arrest and recommended charges were announced. The letter said that the sheriff's office determined there was no further concern to the school, and that counseling staff is available to support students who may need it.
'Our most important job is to keep everyone in our school safe,' Hollingshead wrote. 'We cannot always share information as we are trying to make decisions quickly. Our students and staff did a great job on Tuesday following our protocol when evacuating the school and moving to a safe location, then reoccupying the building once DCSO determined it was safe to do so.'
Hollingshead said he can't share any further information about the investigation, but said appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.
'Always follow your instincts when you think you need to report something,' he wrote. 'I'm grateful and proud of the students who reported their concern in person and on Safe2Tell which allowed us to act quickly.'
Allbee called the device an 'improvised explosive device' while speaking to Kerridge.
'With it being an improvised explosive device, an IED, these types of things are typically going to be homemade and are probably going to be able to get a search warrant for the house, and go through the web history and search history on computers and other devices to try to figure out exactly how this was manufactured,' Allbee said.
On Tuesday, FOX31's Nicole Fierro spoke to Ponderosa High School students about the incident.
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'We walk out to cop cars, like bomb squad, and then like, everyone was evacuated,' Ponderosa High School junior Cooper Norman said. 'I think everyone was just freaked out. You know, this was crazy. It was a shock to everybody.'
Allbee called the incident 'heartbreaking.'
'I think it's heartbreaking for our community to see a 15-year-old, or any high school, junior high, elementary school student is that distraught with life that they think that's their only avenue to pursue, trying to create some mass casualty situation,' Allbee said. 'Unfortunately he's gotten himself into something that's going to live with him the rest of his life.'
Ponderosa High School is in unincorporated Douglas County in a community called The Pinery.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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