In the wake of the shooting at Arapahoe High School in suburban Denver on Friday, information about the shooter has emerged. According to classmates, 18-year-old Karl Halverson Pierson held socialist views.
On Saturday, TheBlaze reported:
Senior Chris Davis, 18, told CNN that Pierson was “a self-proclaimed communist, just wears Soviet shirts all the time.” The Wall Street Journal noted that Davis said Pierson once wore a shirt emblazoned with the letters U.S.S.R. and described himself as a communist.
An ABC News report noted that students said Pierson held communist views and liked to discuss current events and issues and pose his own solutions. None told ABC News that Pierson was bullied for his beliefs.
But now it looks like the Denver Post may be looking to conceal those viewpoints. In a profile of Pierson that appeared on the paper’s website, a classmate calls the shooter “a very opinionated Socialist.” But the story was apparently updated, and the classmate’s description of Pierson was changes to: “very opinionated.”
So what happened to the adjective? It remains to be seen.
“I just want to share this before we move on. This hardcore leftist socialist that the Denver Post is trying to cover and kick the dirt over the fact that he's a socialist, the student that shot another student, then himself at a suburban Denver high school. [On] Facebook, he ridiculed Republicans,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “He wrote, ‘You Republicans are so cute. The Republican Party: Health Care: Let ‘em Die, Climate Change: Let ‘em Die, Gun Violence: Let ‘em Die, Women’s Rights: Let ‘em Die, More War: Let ‘em Die. Is this really the side you want to be on? Is this really the side you want to be on.’”
“Really? Really,” Glenn asked. “And yet he's the guy who goes out and kills them.”
Front page image courtesy of the AP