Colorado students threatened after walkout over Evergreen High School shooting, police say

Threats against Colorado high school students who staged school walkouts Monday over last week's shooting at Evergreen High School are now under investigation, according to the Loveland Police Department.

Police did not immediately offer details about the nature of the threats or who threatened the students, but a police spokesman said student resource officers at Thompson Valley High School were investigating those threats on Monday. 

"While legitimacy has not yet been confirmed, no possibility is being dismissed," Chris Padgett, spokesman for the Loveland Police Department, told CBS News Colorado. "We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness."

Security at Thompson Valley High is being increased as a result of the threats, Padgett said.

Students at the school walked out of class in protest of gun violence and school shootings. One Thompson Valley High School mother told CBS Colorado on Friday that the walkout was scheduled for 10:07 a.m.

"The students are uniting to protest and raise a voice against the school violence in Colorado and the United States of America," she said. "They are also marching to remember the lives of the children lost across the country to school violence."

The shooting at Evergreen High School last Wednesday injured two students. The shooter, identified by police as 16-year-old Desmond Holly, shot himself and later died of his injuries, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the shooting took place both inside and outside of the school building, a sheriff's office spokeswoman said. She added that the suspect used a handgun and numerous students witnessed the shooting.

The shooter was active on a so-called "violent gore" site months before the attack, the Anti-Defamation League said in a report released Friday. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said he had been "radicalized by an extremist network," but did not provide further details. The website that the Evergreen High School shooter was active on was also frequented by other recent school shooters, the ADL says.

In the days since the Evergreen School Shooting, multiple school walkouts and protests have been staged or announced. Monday's Thompson Valley High School walkout appears to be the first one related to the Evergreen shooting that saw any threats against students.

Classes have been canceled at Evergreen High School this week.