Police: Student, 16, set self on fire at school

Associated Press

WESTMINSTER, COLO.

A 16-year-old boy set himself on fire at a suburban Denver high school Monday in an apparent suicide attempt that left him critically injured, authorities said.

The boy didn’t make any threats before starting the fire in the cafeteria at Standley Lake High School at 7:15 a.m., Westminster Police Department spokeswoman Cheri Spottke said.

A custodian was able to use a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze before it could spread, Spottke said. Several other students were in the cafeteria at the time, but none were injured.

Investigators went through the school with bomb detection dogs as a precaution, and no devices were discovered, Spottke said. Investigators are also talking to students, faculty members and family members to find out what happened, she said.

“We don’t have any indication that there’s any threat against the high school. We do believe that this is a suicide attempt,” she said.

The boy’s identity hasn’t been released. Spottke didn’t know how the student set the fire, which caused extensive smoke in the building.