List of shootings in Colorado

Ludlow Massacre

Ludlow

April 20, 1914

c. 21

The deadliest incident of the Colorado Coalfield War, a major coal miner strike. The Colorado National Guard as well as private guards employed by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company fired on a tent colony of 1,200 strikers and their families.

1993 Aurora, Colorado shooting

Aurora

December 14, 1993

4

Nathan Dunlap, 19, who was fired from a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant as a cook, later returned to the restaurant and opened fire, killing four employees and wounding another. He was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder charges and was sentenced to death. In 2013, then-Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper indefinitely delayed Dunlap’

Columbine High School massacre

Columbine

April 20, 1999

16 (including both perpetrators and a victim in 2025)

Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a shooting spree in which a total of 13 students and one teacher were murdered. They also injured 20 other students directly, with three further people being injured while attempting to escape the school. The pair then committed suicide. It is the sixth-deadliest school massacre in Uni

Subway Valentine's Day shooting

Littleton

February 14, 2000

2

Stephanie Hart-Grizzell and Nicholas Kunselman were shot in a Subway restaurant. The case remains unsolved.

AMF Broadway Bowling Alley shooting

Littleton

January 27, 2002

3

Bobby Zajac, Erin Golla and James Springer were shot at the AMF Broadway Bowling Alley. The case remains unsolved.

2005 Denver police officer shooting

Denver

May 7–8, 2005

1

Two Denver police officers were shot at a dance hall by Raúl Gómez-García.

Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis

Bailey

September 27, 2006

2

Duane Roger Morrison took a high school classroom hostage and killed hostage Emily Keyes as she tried to escape. Morrison died after shooting himself and being shot by police.

2007 Colorado YWAM and New Life shootings

Arvada/Colorado Springs

December 9, 2007

5

Matthew Murray opened fire at two church organizations in separate cities, killing four and wounding five others before committing suicide.

2010 Deer Creek Middle School shootings

Littleton

February 23, 2010

0

Bruco Eastwood fired a rifle in the school’s parking lot, wounding two students. He was tackled by faculty and arrested. Eastwood was found legally insane and committed to the state mental hospital.

2012 Aurora theater shooting

Aurora

July 20, 2012

12

James Holmes opened fire during a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises". Twelve people in the theater were killed and 70 were injured.

2013 Arapahoe High School shooting

Centennial

December 13, 2013

2

Eighteen-year-old student Karl Pierson entered Arapahoe High School carrying Molotov cocktails and a shotgun. He shot another student and then killed himself.

October 2015 Colorado Springs shooting

Colorado Springs

October 31, 2015

4 (including the perpetrator)

Noah Harpham randomly killed three before being killed by responding police officers. Harpham had been open carrying; some opponents asserted this allowed a delay such that he was able to kill more people than if police intervention would have been warranted by his presence with a rifle.

November 2015 Colorado Springs shooting

Colorado Springs

November 27, 2015

3

A shooting and five-hour police standoff occurred at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. A University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer and two civilians (a mother of two and an Iraqi war vet) were killed. Five police officers and four civilians were wounded. The killer, Robert Lewis Dear, was captured after police convinced

Thornton shooting

Thornton

November 1, 2017

3

Scott Ostrem walked into a Walmart, killed three people near the cash registers, then fled the scene. Ostrem had been arrested 14 times before the killings.

2019 STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting

Highlands Ranch

May 7, 2019

1

At STEM school in Highlands Ranch, nine were shot including one dead. In 2019, 18-year-old Devon Erickson and 16-year-old Alec McKinney stood trial for the shootings. In 2020, McKinney was charged with felony murder, murder with extreme indifference, attempted murder, and other charges. In 2021, Erickson was charged with first-degree murder, murder

Aurora Town Center shooting

Aurora, Colorado

December 27, 2019

1

A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed inside a JCPenney in the Aurora Town Center mall. Kamyl Xavier Garrette, 18, was charged with first-degree murder.

2021 Boulder shooting

Boulder, Colorado

March 22, 2021

10

Ahmad Al Aliwi Al-Issa opened fire in a King Soopers supermarket and killed ten people, including police officer Eric Talley who ran towards gunfire in an attempt to stop the shooter.

2021 Colorado Springs shooting

Colorado Springs, Colorado

May 9, 2021

7 (including the suspect)

Six adults were killed at a birthday party after which the shooter took his own life.

2021 Aurora shooting

Aurora, Colorado

November 15, 2021

0

Shots were fired near William C. Hinkley High School, resulting in injury to seven. Four teens were charged with attempted murder.

2021 Denver and Lakewood shootings

Denver and Lakewood

December 27, 2021

6 (including the suspect)

Lyndon McLeod (aka Roman McClay) killed five and injured two at multiple Denver and Lakewood locations. McLeod later exchanged gunfire with a Lakewood police officer and was killed.

Colorado Springs nightclub shooting

Colorado Springs, Colorado

November 19, 2022

5

At Club Q, an LGBTQ+ club, five were killed and 25 wounded.

American Elm restaurant shooting

Denver

April 24, 2023

2

Emerall Vaughn-Dahler and Ignacio Gutierrez Morales were shot and killed inside the American Elm restaurant at 38th Avenue and Raleigh Street in the West Highlands. The case remains unsolved.

Evergreen High School

Evergreen, Colorado

September 10, 2025