DENVER — Luis Garcia was shot at an intersection near East High School five weeks ago. Family laid him to rest on Saturday. His brother returned to campus to talk about gun violence again, after another shooting.
“I knew this was going to happen again,” said Santos Garcia, Luis’ brother. “I warned as many people as I could this would happen again.
Denver police said a 17-year-old shot two administrators inside East High School on Wednesday morning. As of Wednesday night, one of them had been released from the hospital.
A source told 9NEWS the suspect, Austin Lyle, died by suicide in Park County.
This happened days after Santos and his family laid Luis Garcia to rest. Police said someone shot Luis at the intersection of 17th Avenue and City Park Esplanade. He later died at the hospital.
There are still flowers outside East High School to honor the 16-year-old. A community hasn’t had time to heal before another shooting.
“It’s dumb that we haven’t had any physical solutions brought to the problem,” said Santos Garcia.
For weeks, Santos has been asking for an armed officer at every DPS school. The district said Wednesday morning the two security guards at East High didn’t have a gun.
“I talked to the principal, deans and some of the staff here and they wanted police,” he said. “It is not just an East problem. It is a community problem.”
Denver Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero said he’s now committed to adding two armed officers at East High for the rest of the school year, and an armed officer at every high school.
For a brother in mourning, the decision came too late for students and staff Wednesday.
“It could have been avoided if there was a cop there, you know, to prevent anything like this from happening,” Santos said.
Santos wishes he didn’t have to talk about violence, but he feels he has to speak up because his brother can’t.
“We all want to live in a better place, and I think he would want me to do everything I could so that I could have an impact on that,” he said.
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