FBI Fails to Act on Tip About Evergreen High Shooter

By now, you should be aware of the shooting at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County, Colorado. 16-year-old Desmond Holly shot two classmates before turning the revolver on himself. One of the victims remains in critical condition, the other seriously wounded. His final posts online included photos of a handgun and ammunition, and his trail of radicalization was all over the internet for anyone willing to look.

The Anti-Defamation League later confirmed that Holly’s accounts were full of white supremacist and antisemitic symbolism, fascination with Columbine, and references to the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting. He collected tactical gear, mimicked shooter poses, and engaged with other extremists on a gore site that has also hosted past school shooters. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged that he had been “radicalized by an extremist network,” though they declined to release more details. It’s clear, however, that this teenager didn’t invent his ideology in a vacuum. He followed the cultural script that online extremist spaces have been handing out to disaffected young men for years.

What makes this case even more disturbing is how familiar the warning signs are. The ADL tipped off the FBI back in July about a social media account tied to Holly, reporting that the user was discussing a mass shooting. The bureau admitted it opened an ‘assessment’ but claimed it could not identify the account holder. By September 10, the day before the attack, the FBI still said it didn’t know who was behind the threats, so no further action was taken. That is cold comfort for the families now living with the aftermath.

This isn’t the first time the FBI has dropped the ball. Parkland stands out as a glaring example, but more recently there was the investigation into the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Federal officials claimed they had a suspect in custody when, in reality, they didn’t. That kind of incompetence looks less like bureaucratic caution and more like a pattern of mismanagement. Add in the fact that Kash Patel purged the bureau of agents who weren’t loyal to the Trump administration, and it’s fair to ask whether the FBI even has the institutional will or integrity to properly investigate threats anymore.

Why didn’t they subpoena the gore site that hosted Holly’s violent posts? IP addresses, account registration, and metadata could have led to him months before he pulled the trigger. The FBI insists there was no probable cause, but that sounds more like an excuse than an explanation. Given the extremism in his posts, especially targeting Jews and people of color, maybe the bureau didn’t find his rhetoric as distasteful as they should have.

There may well be lawsuits filed against the FBI for failing to act, but with the Trump-packed Supreme Court, any accountability will likely be overturned before it reaches the finish line. And so the cycle continues. Another tip ignored, another teenager steeped in online hate, another school shooting that was both shocking and predictable.

(Sources)