Woman ‘Obsessed With Columbine’ on the Loose in Denver Area, Several Colorado Schools Closed

Many schools in Denver, Colorado, including Columbine High School, closed Wednesday as authorities search for a young woman who they report is “infatuated” with the 1999 shooting at the high school. She reportedly made threats just days before the 20th anniversary of the attack that left 13 people dead.

A “massive manhunt” is underway for Sol Pais, 18, who is thought to have made undisclosed threats that prompted Columbine and more than 20 other schools in the Denver area to lock their doors for nearly three hours on Tuesday afternoon, CBS News reports.

The threat was deemed “credible and general,” according to Patricia Billinger, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

Some schools released their students after additional security was called in and canceled evening activities or moved them outside.

The FBI in Denver said that Pais is “armed and dangerous” and urged anyone with information on the young woman to call the tip line at 303-630-6227.

Pais traveled to Colorado from Miami on Monday night and bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. She was last seen in the foothills west of Denver and considered extremely dangerous. Authorities say she should not be approached.

“This has become a massive manhunt … and every law enforcement agency is participating and helping in this effort,” Dean Phillips, special agent in charge of the FBI in Denver, said late Tuesday night.

The FBI’s Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force described Pais as “infatuated with [the] Columbine school shooting” in an alert on Tuesday. The alert also said police who come into contact with her should detain her and evaluate her mental health.

According to CBS Miami, Pais’ family is asking her to turn herself in. The station talked through a closed door with a man who identified himself as her father at the family home in Surfside, Florida.

“She can, please, come home. I think she’s going to be OK,” the man said. “It’s like a bad dream. We don’t know. We don’t have any ideas. I think that maybe she has a mental problem.”

Surfside police said Pais, who The Miami Herald reports is a senior at Miami Beach High School, was reported missing on Monday by her parents.

Two teenage gunmen attacked Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, killing 12 classmates and a teacher.