The family of Luis Garcia, the East High student fatally shot outside of the school last year, this week sued Denver Public Schools and the district’s Board of Education, accusing DPS officials of failing to take “reasonable steps” to protect pupils from harm by removing armed police from the building.
Garcia, 16, was shot while sitting in his car outside of East High, the city’s largest high school, on Feb. 13, 2023. He died more than two weeks later on March 1. Garcia’s death preceded another high-profile shooting at East High only weeks later, when a student wounded two deans inside the school.
In the wake of both shootings, DPS faced heavy criticism from parents and educators about its discipline policies and a 2020 vote by the school board to remove school resource officers from Denver schools. The board voted last year — following the East High shootings — to reinstate armed police, which are now in 13 of the district’s largest high schools.
The Garcia family’s lawsuit was filed Monday in Denver District Court under the state’s Claire Davis School Safety Act, which was adopted after a fatal shooting at Arapahoe High School in 2013.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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