Second dean wounded in Denver school shooting files suit against the district

A second dean wounded in a shooting at Denver's East High School has filed a lawsuit against the school district alleging they failed to protect staff and students.

Eric Sinclair filed a similar lawsuit to the one filed by Wayne Mason last week. East High student Austin Lyle shot both men in 2023 and then fled the campus. Lyle took his own life later that day.

Lyle was already known to school staff and police before the shooting and had agreed to be patted down daily before entering the school as part of a safety plan.

When Lyle walked into the school on March 22, Sinclair reportedly tried to contact the assistant principal and a safety officer to conduct a search, but neither answered him. After he had escorted Lyle to another room, Sinclair radioed Mason for help.

"Eric said, 'Gun! Gun!' Austin fired off some shots, I think two or three shots. And when I grabbed Austin's arm, he turned his wrist toward me, and he fired two shots, and he hit me. He broke away from me and he stood there staring at Eric and I, still pointing the gun at us. Then he ran out of the room," said Mason.

Claims in Sinclair and Mason's lawsuits say the staff at the school weren't adequately trained on how to search students for weapons. They also allege that, by removing police officers from the school in 2020, the board and district "shifted the responsibility to faculty and staff to manage, search, disarm and de-escalate potentially violent or volatile students."

The district told CBS Colorado it would not comment on pending litigation.