Keith Coffman

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (Reuters) – Two male students armed with guns burst into a Denver-area science and technology school and opened fire on Tuesday, killing one classmate and wounding seven others before being taken into custody, law enforcement officials said.

Several of the surviving victims of the attack at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) School in Highlands Ranch, a Denver suburb, were initially listed in critical condition at local hospitals and in surgery, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said at a briefing.

One of those victims, an 18-year-old male, later died of his injuries, Spurlock said a short time later.

“Two individuals walked into the STEM school, got deep inside the school, and engaged students in two separate locations,” Spurlock said.

The suspects were identified only as two male students of the school, one an adult and the other under age 18, the sheriff said. The school serves students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Television images showed police vehicles gathered outside a suburban house about 2 miles from the school, where one of the suspect was believed to live.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the school, located about 25 miles (40 km) south of Denver, within two minutes of the first reports, Spurlock said, and “engaged the suspects.”

Law enforcement officials declined to comment on a possible motive for the rampage, saying it was too early in the course of the investigation, which was being assisted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Reporting by Keith Coffman in Highlands Ranch, Colo.; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico, and Peter Szekely in New York; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler