Colorado Lawmakers Form Committee To Study School Safety

DENVER (AP) -- Colorado lawmakers will study school safety after a fatal shooting and a reported threat refocused attention on the issue this spring. Democratic and Republican leaders announced the eight-member committee on Friday.

Members will be appointed this month and are charged with studying school safety, mental health and threat prevention before the 2019 legislative session. House and Senate leaders said they were pushed to act after the May 7 shooting that killed a student and wounded eight others at the STEM School Highlands Ranch.

The shooting came just weeks after dozens of Denver-area schools closed during a manhunt for a Florida teenager who was obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. A coroner later determined the 18-year-old killed herself the same day she arrived in Denver and purchased a gun.

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