On the morning he walked into Arapahoe High School and shot a schoolmate in the head before killing himself, Karl Pierson went bowling.
That detail — offering a chilling connection to the 1999 Columbine High massacre just eight miles away — and others about the Dec. 13 school shooting in suburban Denver were shared Monday at a morning news conference.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said Pierson, 18, planned and carried out the shooting on his own, likely motivated by a dispute with his former debate team coach.
“There is no question that this was a very deliberate and planned event,” he said, adding that evidence thus far in the investigation did not suggest any “direct or indirect co-conspirators.”
The sheriff said Pierson began the day as he normally would and “gave no indication that anything was amiss,” adding that Pierson took the time to eat breakfast and go bowling alone before heading to the school.
That detail prompted comparisons to the Columbine High School shooting 14 years earlier. The shooters, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people and injuring 24 others before committing suicide on April 20, 1999. They originally were alleged to have attended a bowling class in the hours before the attack — an action made infamous in Michael Moore’s documentary, “Bowling for Columbine.”
Investigators later found the shooters had not attended the class that morning.
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