The decision to keep about half a million students home in two dozen school districts over a vast swath of Colorado showed the sense of alarm among authorities. An FBI bulletin sent to local law enforcement agencies Tuesday identified the woman as Sol Pais, 18. She was “infatuated” with the Columbine attack, the bulletin said. She had purchased a shotgun and ammunition.
School superintendents from throughout the Denver area decided during a conference call Tuesday night to jointly close schools Wednesday morning as a precaution, The Denver Post reported.
Pais is about 5-foot-5 with brown hair and was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, camouflage pants and black boots, authorities said. She had recently traveled to Colorado, law enforcement officials said. An FBI official expressed concerns about her mental stability.
Pais’ parents reported her missing to local police Monday, Detective Sgt. Marian Cruz, a spokeswoman for the Surfside Police Department, said Wednesday. That has been the only time police have been called to the family’s address, she added.
Daisy Gonzalez-Diego, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, confirmed Wednesday that Pais is a student at Miami Beach Senior High School. The school district is assisting the FBI with its investigation, Gonzalez-Diego said.
In a news conference Tuesday night, Dean Phillips, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Denver, said the search had turned into a “massive manhunt.” Phillips said his team had received a tip that morning from federal agents in Miami identifying Pais as a possible threat in Colorado.
The FBI then discovered that Pais had arrived at the Denver airport before buying a pump-action shotgun and ammunition at a store. “She was then taken to an area where she was last seen out toward the foothills,” Phillips said.
“Her comments, her actions that we have heard about from others tend to cause us great concern that she may pose a threat to a school,” he added.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.