A woman is being sought after lockouts at Columbine High and other Colorado schools - UPDATE

Sheena Jones and Scott McLean
CNN
Wed, 17 Apr 2019 01:40 UTC

Sol Pais is sought in relation to lockouts at Columbine High School and several other Colorado schools.

Authorities are searching for an armed woman, who was "infatuated" with Columbine, in connection with alleged threats that led to lockouts at Columbine High School and nearly 20 other schools, officials said Tuesday.

The FBI Denver Division and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office identified the woman as 18-year-old Sol Pais. She traveled to Colorado on Monday night "and made threats in the Denver metropolitan area," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post. She is considered dangerous, authorities said.

"She did make statements that were threatening to schools and she did purchase a firearm... and that's why she's a credible threat," said Patricia Billinger, a spokeswoman with the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

Authorities are being especially cautious because Pais' statements don't express a specific plan, Billinger said.

A "be on the lookout" alert sent to law enforcement said Pais was "infatuated" with Columbine, Douglas County, Colorado, Sheriff Tony Spurlock said.

On April 20, 1999, two students killed 12 students and one teacher in a mass shooting at Columbine High School in the town of Littleton in Jefferson County.

No specific threat to Columbine

The threats were not directed to a particular school, according to sheriff's spokesperson Mike Taplin.

"It's a credible threat ... but she did not make it directly," said Jenny Fulton, a spokeswoman with the sheriff's office. "There may be some connection to Columbine but it wasn't a specific directed threat towards Columbine."

Pais is about 5-feet 5 inches tall and was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, camouflage pants and black boots, authorities said.

She was last spotted in the foothills of Jefferson County.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Colorado Department of Education recommended that Denver area schools conduct lockouts and controlled release after the alleged threats.

In a lockout, exterior doors are locked, and school continues as normal.

Columbine High and several schools in the area were part of the lockout, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office tweeted.

Jefferson County school officials later tweeted that all students and staff were safe. Students were scheduled to be released on a normal schedule.

Comment:

UPDATE 17/04/19: Sol Pais has been found in Littleton, Colorado dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound

The massive search for Sol Pais, the Surfside teen who reportedly made threatening comments about schools in the Denver area, is over. Late Wednesday morning authorities said Pais is dead. They said she died a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Littleton area.

Pais had been on the run after reportedly making threats that led to the closure of school for more than half a million students on Colorado's Front Range Wednesday.

A SWAT team and a Clear Creek County snowcat were near the Echo Lake Campground in the Arapaho National Forest and in the midst of an extensive search operation Wednesday morning. The search was centered at the base of Mount Evans.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the FBI had said Pais traveled to Colorado from Miami on Monday night and bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition.

"Because of her comments and her actions. Because of her travel here to the state. Because of her procurement of a weapon immediately upon arriving here, we consider her to be a credible threat certainly to the community and potentially to schools," said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Dean Phillips.

CBS4 News spoke to a man who identified himself as Sol's father on Tuesday night.

"It's like a bad dream. We don't know. We don't have any idea," said the man through a closed door. He did not give his name.

Wednesday morning, FBI agents were seen removing a bag of items from the home.