School shooting suspect identified

Author: CNN’s Andy Rose contributed to this report.

Source: CNN

Date: February 24, 2010 8:53 a.m. EST

(CNN) — The man suspected of shooting two students at a Littleton, Colorado, middle school was identified as 32-year-old Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood, authorities said Wednesday.

Eastwood was arrested after the incident Tuesday at Deer Creek Middle School and is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. He is facing two counts of attempted first-degree murder, the sheriff’s office said.

He is accused of shooting two students as classes were letting out at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.

David Benke, a 6-foot-5 former college basketball player who is a math teacher and track coach, tackled the suspected gunman as he was preparing to fire again, CNN affiliate KMGH reported.

“[The shooter] was trying to rack another round,” Benke told the station. “I knew he couldn’t get another round in before I got to him, so I grabbed him.”

A parent who saw the incident told KMGH that the gunman kept mumbling, “I’m fighting for freedom. I’m fighting for freedom,” as he was being subdued.

The students, a boy and a girl, were taken to Littleton Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman said.

Tuesday’s shooting occurred in the same area as one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, the 1999 killing of 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School. The two gunmen in that incident, both Columbine students, then turned their guns on themselves.

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