The 18-year-old gunman who opened fire inside a Colorado high school Friday, injuring a fellow student and then fatally shooting himself, had entered the building with a shotgun, a machete and three incendiary devices in his backpack, and planned to hurt multiple people, authorities said Saturday.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said Karl Pierson likely was motived by retaliation against a faculty member -- probably a librarian at the school -- when he opened fire Friday at Arapahoe High School. Robinson said it appears the librarian was the initial target but that Pierson planned to hurt multiple people.
Robinson said at a news conference that the teen bought the pump-action shotgun legally Dec. 6 at a local store.
Also Saturday, Robinson identified the wounded student as 17-year-old Claire Esther Davis. Robinson said Davis was seated with a friend near the door Pierson used to enter the school when Pierson shot her at point-blank range.
Davis wasn't a specific, intended target, the sheriff said.
"She is an innocent young lady, and she was an innocent victim of an evil act of violence," Robinson said. Davis remained hospitalized Saturday in critical condition.
