A Denver-based journalist for Fox Information had an emotional reunion together with her son whereas reporting stay from his highschool within the aftermath of a capturing there on Wednesday. Alicia Acuna, a senior correspondent, halted her protection exterior East Excessive College mid-sentence when she noticed her son.
“Excuse me—my son simply got here up and I've not seen him,” Acuna mentioned. “I’m sorry. I’ve not seen my child since this all went down… I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She referred to as him over and pulled him right into a hug. “I’m simply ending this actual fast, OK?” she instructed the boy. “OK. All proper. OK. You good?”
Because the excessive schooler left the body, Acuna turned again to the digital camera. “I’m so sorry,” she repeated. “I simply—There’s no means you'll have let your child stroll by.”
Acuna’s son and niece have been all on campus when the capturing occurred, and she or he had confirmed they have been secure earlier than speeding over to campus. She instructed anchors John Roberts and Sandra Smith that she had been engaged on one other story on Wednesday when her son texted her that cops had simply interrupted an meeting.
The officers ordered the scholars to shelter in place, and “I stored in touch with him over textual content as a result of he needed to keep silent,” Acuna defined.
Denver authorities on Wednesday night have been nonetheless looking for a suspect within the capturing, which occurred round 10 a.m. that morning. The alleged gunman, recognized as 17-year-old Austin Lyle, shot two faculty directors whereas being patted down. The teenager then fled the scene, police mentioned.
Acuna mentioned through the broadcast that she, like many different dad and mom, had been unaware of the “safety search” protocol, which mandates that sure East Excessive College college students be searched upon getting into the varsity each day.
“Once I requested why dad and mom weren’t being instructed this, I used to be instructed by the superintendent that it was to guard the privateness of the individuals who have been being patted down,” she mentioned. “As a mum or dad, my query is, ‘What concerning the security and the issues we have now for all of our college students?’ There's a large quantity of frustration proper now.”
One of many college members shot was in essential situation, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas mentioned in a press convention. The opposite sufferer was in secure situation.
The East Excessive incident on Wednesday was the 18th such faculty capturing the place at the least one individual was killed or injured, in line with knowledge from the Gun Violence Archive.