Luis Garcia’s family is suing DPS over fatal shooting outside East High

The family of Luis Garcia, the East High student who was fatally shot outside of school last year, sued Denver Public Schools and the district’s Board of Education this week, accusing DPS officials of failing to “take appropriate action.” “To take action to protect students from harm by removing armed police officers from the building.

Garcia, 16, was shot and killed on February 13, 2023, as he sat in his car outside East High, the city’s largest high school. He died more than two weeks later, on March 1st. Garcia’s death preceded another high-profile shooting at East that came to a head just weeks later when a student injured two deans at the school.

After both shootings, DPS faced intense criticism from parents and educators over its disciplinary policies and voted through the school board in 2020 to remove school resource officers from Denver schools. The board voted last year — after the shooting at East High School — to reinstate armed police, now stationed at 13 of the district’s largest high schools.

The Garcia family’s lawsuit was filed Monday in Denver District Court under the state’s Claire Davis School Safety Act, which was passed after a fatal shooting at Arapahoe High School in 2013.