DENVER HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SETS HIMSELF ON FIRE IN CAFETERIA IN SUICIDE ATTEMPT

STANDLEY LAKE HIGH SCHOOL

One student was critically injured Monday after he set himself on fire in a high school cafeteria in an apparent suicide attempt.


Fire officials say more than 80% of the student’s body was burned after he tried to kill himself at Standley Lake High School in suburban Denver. The 16-year-old, whose name has not been released, was taken to an area hospital. The fire, which broke out at about 7:15 a.m. MT, was extinguished quickly.

Spokeswoman Cheri Spottke of the Westminster Police Department said the teen had not made any statements before igniting himself. “There is no indication there were any threats,” she said.

The teen reportedly doused himself with oil before setting himself on fire and left word of his intentions on social media. Spottke said she didn’t know how the student started the fire. “This is not someone’s fault. I had this planned for years,” the teen wrote in a social-media post.

He went on to mention that friends over the weekend tried to talk him out of the suicide attempt. “If anyone says that they know why I did this, … nobody knows and nobody will.”