A teenager accused of shooting students at a suburban Denver high school appeared to develop a "deep fascination" with mass shootings and shared neo-Nazi views online months before the attack, research by the Anti-Defamation League found.
Authorities said Desmond Holly, 16, died from self-inflicted injuries on Sept. 10 after he fired a handgun inside and outside Evergreen High School in Jefferson County, Colorado. The shooting, which left two students critically injured, forced the school into a brief lockdown and prompted a massive police response.
Further investigation revealed that Holly had been "radicalized by some extremist network,” according to Jacki Kelley, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. But additional details on the suspect and his alleged radicalization were not immediately released.
In a report published Sept. 12, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism found that Holly had been active on a so-called online "gore" forum, where users share violent and graphic images and videos, since December 2024. These forums typically feature real-life acts of violence, such as murders, executions, and animal abuse, according to the ADL.
"Research by ADL Center on Extremism indicates that Holly spent substantial amounts of time in online spaces featuring extremist ideologies and violent content, ultimately adopting extremist views himself," the report states.
