Dean shot at East High School in 2023 sues DPS over “nightmare that could have been prevented”

An administrator injured in the 2023 shooting inside East High School sued Denver Public Schools this week, alleging Colorado’s largest district failed to provide adequate training on student searches and knew the shooter “had an affinity for guns and ammunition.”

The lawsuit was filed ahead of the second anniversary of student Austin Lyle’s shooting of East deans Wayne Mason and Eric Sinclair on March 23, 2023, at Denver’s largest high school.

Mason, who filed the lawsuit, was shot twice in the chest. Both men survived.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Denver District Court, also names East High School and assistant principal Shawne Anderson as defendants.

“Mr. Mason wants to ensure this never happens to anyone else,” attorney Dan Caplis, who is representing Mason, said in a statement. “This lawsuit will make everyone safer by getting the full truth to the public, and by holding the officials who undermined school safety fully accountable.”

Scott Pribble, a spokesman for DPS, declined to comment on the litigation.

The lawsuit was filed under Colorado’s Claire Davis School Safety Act, which says schools can be held liable if they fail to provide “reasonable care” to protect students and employees from violence that is “reasonably foreseeable.”

The act is a little-used law, but has in recent years been invoked to test whether schools can be held liable not just for shootings, but also for bullying. The most high-profile case to be filed under the act is the lawsuit brought by the parents of Kendrick Castillo, who was killed during the 2019 shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch.

Mason’s lawsuit argues his injuries were preventable and that East administrators, including Anderson, did not have adequate training on how to search and pat down students.

Cherry Creek School District officials previously acknowledged that Lyle had been “removed” from Overland High School during the 2021-22 academic year, but did not say why. The teen was on probation at the time of the East shooting for a 2021 charge of possessing a dangerous weapon and a large-capacity magazine.

Mason’s lawsuit reveals Lyle was expelled by Cherry Creek for trying to sell an AR-15 rifle and ammunition on school grounds at Overland.

Lyle transferred to East in January 2023 and, at that time, the school conducted a threat assessment on Lyle, creating a safety plan that required him to meet Anderson for a verbal “check-in” each morning before his first class, according to the complaint.

On March 2 of that year, students saw Lyle with a gun in class, according to the lawsuit. Lyle fled the school when administrators went to search him. Despite the incident, East administrators did not request Lyle be expelled and instead conducted a second threat assessment, according to the lawsuit.

The safety plan was altered after that second assessment and required Anderson to search Lyle every morning, according to the lawsuit.

DPS, East and Anderson “implemented inadequate policies and protocols regarding East High School building access screening,” which allowed students to enter the school without being searched despite it being a requirement in their safety plans, the lawsuit alleged.

DPS faced intense scrutiny for its discipline policies in the wake of the shooting, with parents and educators criticizing the district as being too lenient. DPS officials have said they have a “moral obligation” to teach all students.

On the day of the shooting, Mason was at the front desk when Lyle walked in and asked to speak with Anderson. Mason radioed for the assistant principal, who was at a school assembly and did not respond.

Another dean, Sinclair, took Lyle into an office to wait for Anderson, who still couldn’t be reached, according to the complaint.

Sinclair then called for Mason to help him. When Mason arrived in the room, the lawsuit said, Sinclair was “wrestling” with Lyle yelling, “Gun, gun!”

“…East High School assistant principal Shawne Anderson abandoned his duty to search (Lyle), and, in an instant, chaos ensued,” the lawsuit alleged

Lyle, who later died by suicide, shot Sinclair in the chest, abdomen and leg before shooting Mason and fleeing, according to the lawsuit.

“Five gun blasts pierced the air at East High School on that day,” the lawsuit said. “Two of those pistol pops fired at point-blank range entered Mr. Mason’s chest, dropping him to the floor. What began as a typical school day ended as a nightmare that could have been prevented.”

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