EVERGREEN, Colo. — One day after the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says it completed the investigation into the September 2025 shooting at Evergreen High School, some parents say they're unsatisfied and frustrated.
On Wednesday, the sheriff's office said it acknowledged "this was not the outcome many in our community hoped,” adding the shooter's parents would not face any charges.
"Now, when this comes out, it makes me feel very frustrated and sad that we're having to deal with the going back and forth again and not getting the answers that we want," said Cindy Mazeika, president of the Evergreen High School PTSA. "It makes me feel very frustrated."
The shooting unfolded over the span of more than nine minutes on Sept. 10, 2025 at the school. A 16-year-old shooter opened fire at the school that day, critically injuring two students — a 14-year-old boy whose name was never released and 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone. The shooter then ended his own life. It was the only fatality in the incident.
Investigators later determined the shooter, who was a student, had been radicalized by an extremist network.
On Thursday, Mazeika spoke with Denver7's Veronica Acosta nearly five months after she sat down with her one day after the shooting, and only a couple of days after bringing up concerns during a PTSA meeting regarding security and school resource officers at the high school.
"The report, I feel, was dismissive to our community," Mazeika told Denver7. "It was very 'Sorry, our hands are tied.'"
Watch Denver7's follow-up coverage from Thursday evening in the video below.
Audrey Tucker, vice president for the Evergreen High School PTSA, also spoke with Denver7's Acosta on Thursday afternoon, sharing the same feelings as Mazeika.
"I was like, 'Really? That's all you're gonna say? That's all the investigation had?' I mean, there's got to be more," Tucker said. "Or I feel like they didn't do the best they could have done to really investigate it further."
But the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says that's not the case. A spokesperson told Denver7's Acosta that it was an "unprovable case" against the shooter's parents.
Evergreen
Evergreen HS shooter’s parents won’t face charges for attack, JCSO deputies say
A note from the PTSA posted Thursday says there is an ongoing federal investigation, but Denver7 asked the sheriff's office about it, a spokesperson said "There is no ongoing federal investigation."
On Wednesday, Evergreen High School parents also received a letter from Jefferson County Sheriff Reggie Marinelli saying that since the investigation into the Evergreen High School shooting has been closed, it's likely police body-worn camera footage and written reports on the investigation could be released to the media under a CCJRA request.
Both Mazeika and Tucker told Denver7 they were concerned about what that could mean for their children, who still attend Evergreen High School.
"I'm concerned about the kids reliving it, seeing the videos," Mazeika said.
However, she and Tucker agreed that if the release of those reports and footage help bring them answers, they're on board.
"I think getting more answers, and if the body cam footage helps, if there's other answers that we can get that can help take action to make the school safer, to make other schools safer, so that they can learn from it — that's the sort of answers that I think we need as a community, (like) what can we do differently?" Mazeika said.
On Thursday, Denver7 also heard from Kim Halligan, founder of Stand Evergreen. She called for accountability in this case.
"We need accountability not to enforce, you know, punishment, but to actually get transparency," she explained. "I feel like an opportunity is being missed to do better. When we don't have transparency and we don't have authentic relationships, we don't have a community, right? We don't have the tools necessary to process the grief that we're experiencing, but more than that, prohibit, prevent, find a path forward, so that this doesn't happen again in another community."
Halligan said she started speaking up at board meetings in the wake of the shooting, which led to the creation of Stand Evergreen to ensure children feel safe at school.
"We're trying to be a voice for the community right now," she said. "It feels like our ideas and what we feel are important are muffled out by static from outside influences, so we're trying to be the voice that is echoed throughout the community and far beyond. Our school shooting can happen anywhere, and prevention is key."
While it's been nearly five months since the shooting, both women told Denver7 the healing continues and their priority remains on helping students, staff, and teachers who continue dealing with the fallout of what happened on Sept. 10, 2025.
It's why they're still taking any and all donations for those who continue working at the school.
The PTSA has set up a website where anyone who is willing and able to donate and help those impacted by the Evergreen High School shooting can help here.
