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December 20, 2013 Arapahoe County, Colorado | Volume 13, Issue 5 A publication of
centennialcitizen.net
WOUNDED WARRIORS Victim fighting for life By Chris Rotar and Jennifer Smith Staff writers
They sit near each other in Spanish class, but Kaylee Eastridge says she doesn’t know Claire Davis well. “She’s quiet, but she’s very friendly,” Eastridge, a junior at Arapahoe High School, said. “I know she has a lot of friends.” That was apparent to anyone visiting Arapahoe High the afternoon of Dec. 15. Signs of support were everywhere for Davis, the 17-year-old Arapahoe senior who two days earlier was shot in the head at point-blank range. Davis was in critical condition, in a coma, at Littleton Adventist Hospital as of Dec. 17. At the high school, paper cups jammed between holes in a fence were arranged to say “Pray 4 Claire.” Hanging from the same fence, just a few
Victim continues on Page 10
A girl is comforted by a friend outside Shepherd of the Hills Church after the shootings at Arapahoe High School on Dec. 13. Tearful reunions were a common sight at the church, where parents were instructed to pick up their kids. Photo by Chris Michlewicz
Shooting shakes community Staff report
Claire Esther Davis, shown here in a photo provided by her family to the Arapahoe County Sheriff ’s Office, remained in critical condition from a gunshot wound as of Dec. 17.
One minute and 20 seconds changed lives forever. A girl shot in the head, left in critical condition. A young man dead by his own hand, his own gun, after bringing horror to the hallways of his school. Shaken teenagers filed out of the school into the cold, some barefoot. Family and friends wondered if their loved ones had been hurt, or worse. On Dec. 13, a community was left disturbed, heartbroken, changed. Arapahoe High School, home of the Warriors, was a crime scene for nearly three days. The shooting in Centennial came a day before the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass Shooting continues on Page 14
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Arapahoe High School students file out of the Centennial school after being evacuated Dec. 13 following a shooting that left Claire Davis in critical condition. Photo by George Lurie