One of the suspects in the deadly May 7 shooting at the Highlands Ranch school in the subsurbs of Denver was a girl, police say (Chet Strange)

Highlands Ranch (United States) (AFP) – One of the two suspects in a Colorado school shooting that left one person dead and eight wounded is a girl, Denver police said Wednesday.

The sheriff of Douglas County, in the Denver suburbs, initially said his men had arrested two boys after Tuesday’s shooting spree, both of them students at the Highlands Ranch STEM school. One of the suspects was 18 and the other was a minor.

But Sheriff Tony Spurlock on Wednesday said the minor was a girl and that his officers had been mistaken her for a boy because of her appearance.

He said that three of the eight wounded students were still in intensive care in a regional hospital Wednesday, while the others had been discharged.  

The name of the 18-year-old high school student who was killed was due to be released later Wednesday. Officials said the student had been set to graduate from the school “in three days” at the end of the school year. 

Sheriff Spurlock said during a press conference that one of the suspects had been “neutralized” by an armed security guard before the police arrived within minutes at the scene of the crime. 

“We did not exchange any gun fire with them,” he said.

Two hand guns were seized, he said, noting that the FBI had also joined investigation. Police had scoured the two suspects’ social media accounts, mobile phone records and computers for any clue as to their motivation.

The older of the two suspects was due to appear in court later in the day for an arraignment hearing.

The Democratic governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, condemned the school attack. “America has seen too many of these senseless acts of violence,” he said. 

The state had just commemorated the 20th anniversary of the notorious Columbine school shooting in which two heavily armed students aged 17 and 18 killed 12 of their classmates and a teacher on April 20, 1999, before committing suicide.

“This is not who we are. This aberrant act doesn’t define us,” said George Brauchler, the local district attorney.

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.