Angela Rae Harris's Blog, page 37

Broncos TE Evan Engram removed from injury report ahead of Colts matchup

ENGLEWOOD — Broncos tight end Evan Engram is back and healthy to face the Colts on Sunday. 

Engram sustained a calf injury in a season-opening win over the Titans. He began the week of practice limited on the Wednesday injury report. But two consecutive days of full participation removed Engram from the team’s final injury report Friday heading into a road matchup Suday at Indianapolis.  

“I’m gonna stay away from (injury) specifics,” Engram said after practice at Broncos Park. “Just glad the guys pulled it out, finished the game well and got the (win). I’ve just been taking it day by day this week. … I felt good today.” 

His injury took place late in the third quarter of Week 1 at Empower Field at Mile High. Quarterback Bo Nix completed a third-down pass to Engram for 10 yards to gain the first down. But Engram hobbled to the sideline. He was ruled questionable in the fourth quarter with a calf injury and did not return to play. 

“It’s football,” Engram said. “You get hit pretty hard. So, there’s a lot of bumps and bruises. I’ve overcome a lot of them in my career. … It’s just part of the game.” 

Engram has a long history of injuries over his nine-year NFL career but recently lauded the Broncos’ medical staff as “probably the best I’ve been around.” He caught three passes for 21 yards in his Broncos debut after signing with the team in free agency.  

Engram will look to build on that performance against a stingy Colts defense that allowed only 8 points in their season-opening victory over the Dolphins.  

“Just continue to do my job at the highest level possible,” Engram said. “Anything I’m asked to do in any situation. I just want to make plays and put the team in the best position. Run game and pass game. Just try to get in a groove as the season goes along.” 

Commissioners urged to reject well pad for fracking near Aurora Reservoir

More than 400 people who filled a venue overlooking the plains of Arapahoe County on Thursday urged the Energy and Carbon Management Commission to reject a well pad for the Lowry Ranch fracking plan.

The ECMC voted in August 2024 to green light the fracking plan, which includes 32,000 acres of proposed subsurface mineral development with 10 locations and 166 new wells. The approval came after days of testimony and following years of a battle over the proposed operation.

Part of the plan includes drilling about 7,000 feet under the Aurora Reservoir and on land surrounding the reservoir, which drew opposition from nearby residents and their allies, and support from other quarters.

While the overall plan was approved by the commission, Civitas, the company, still needs to submit an oil and gas development plan application for each of its proposed well sites before it can forward.

Each application has to be approved by both the ECMC and Arapahoe County before Civitas drills hit the ground.

A line formed outside the building as speakers took the microphone to talk to three of the five ECMC commissioners who came to Thursday night’s public hearing on the proposed State Sunlight-Long well pad. The meeting lasted more than three hours.

None of the speakers spoke in support of the State Sunlight-Long well pad plan.

Many of the speakers wore matching blue shirts that read “sunlight wrong,” in reference to the proposed well pad, which is the largest of all of the proposed well pads in the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan, which includes 166 new wells.

Marsha Goldsmith Kamin speaks to three ECMC commissioners on Sept. 11, 2025.

The State Sunlight-Long well pad is proposed to be about 35 acres and sit about 1.5 miles north of County Line Road and 1.6 miles east of South Powhaton Road in unincorporated Arapahoe County, according to Arapahoe County’s website.

The pad would support the drilling and operation of up to 32 wells.

Arapahoe County Public Works and Development conditionally approved the well pad application in May, saying the proposal is “meeting and in many areas exceeds the county’s criteria or has qualified for a waiver.”

The applicant, Crestone Resources, which is owned by Civitas, has to get final approval for State Sunlight-Long from the ECMC.

The proposed site is about a mile from two elementary schools, and within a 2-mile radius of more than 10,000 households, said Save The Aurora Reservoir (STAR), an organization created to oppose fracking in the area.

State Sunlight-Long well pad map with distances. Courtesy of Save The Aurora Reservoir.

The group and its allies argued that the well pads — in particular the State Sunlight-Long pad — are too close to homes, schools and water sources and expressed worries about air and water quality, as well as wildlife and health impacts to people. They also cited the financial impacts of having homes near a well site.

The speakers at Thursday night’s hearing emphasized their health concerns, saying they are worried for their children, themselves and their neighbors.

Sarah Palmquist, who has severe asthma, told commissioners she lives in one of the closest homes to the proposed site and is worried about poor air quality.

“My son loves to play soccer, he loves to fish in the reservoir and I like to do those things with him,” Palmquist said. “He also suffers from asthma and the Sunlight-Long pad will release particles into that air that is known to worsen asthma … This project is an attack on our community’s health, especially our pulmonary health.”

Katie Collins, a resident of a neighborhood near the proposed site, cited a May 2025 study that showed children living near oil and gas operations are at increased risk for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Drill sites for the Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan. Courtesy of STAR.

STAR and its allies are now fighting each individual site application — citing concerns about health and safety, the project’s effect on the “climate crisis,” risks of water contamination and threats to local wildlife.

Civitas has countered that the project offers unequivocal benefits to the surrounding areas and to the county and it would would yield an estimated $235 million in tax revenue for Arapahoe County.

Company officials also promised to adopt a wide array of precautions, including building wells farther away from homes and adding air monitoring and sound barriers to protect residents and ensure the project does not negatively affect the area.

Civitas spent two years obtaining approval from the state for oil-and-gas drilling, finally getting it after a hearing that lasted three full days.

Arapahoe County and the ECMC have approved the State La Plata South pad application, which includes up to 17 new wells. Operations have begun on the site.

The applications for State Harvard-Yale, State Wetterhorn-Handies and Secret Stash are complete and county staff is reviewing them.

More information about the well pad applications and the project can be found on Arapahoe County’s oil and gas website and Citivas’ project page.

Evergreen High School had a police officer — she was on medical leave during Wednesday’s shooting

When a 16-year-old student began shooting and kept reloading his gun at Evergreen High School around noon on Wednesday, the police officer assigned to the campus was not on duty.

That full-time school resource officer (SRO) was on medical leave. Meanwhile, a deputy who assumed those policing duties on a part-time basis was working on a traffic crash nearby, the police said.

The suspect critically injured two students before killing himself, authorities said.

Those details frustrated leaders of the school’s Parent Teacher Student Association, who claimed the mountain town schools have been disregarded by the school district and by the police.

Evergreen High School has a full-time SRO — a trained Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy there to assist with safety — but she was currently on medical leave during the shooting, according to Jacki Kelley, a spokesperson with the sheriff’s office.

While the officer is on leave, the school hired part-time SROs.

But there wasn’t anyone on campus at those crucial minutes on Wednesday. One deputy had left around 10:30 a.m. for a nearby crash.

The part-time SRO is allowed to come and go when needed elsewhere, Kelley said.

The shooting started about two hours later.

“Horrible timing, of course,” Kelley said of the full-time deputy’s medical leave.

Kelley said nearby schools have a shared SRO, and a full-time position may be established in nearby schools in the future.

The sheriff’s office required the municipalities to pay 50% of the SROs’ salaries last year, according to Jeffco Public School’s April FY 2025-26 budget development update.

In the new budget, the district is expected to pay more than $2.2 million to replace municipal funding for 50% of its 38 SROs and three sergeants on staff.

There are 145 schools in the district.

Dr. Skyler Artes, the Evergreen High School principal, told parents that “mountain schools have been deprioritized, and resources are shared.” She said the school “was deprioritized because we are a small mountain town with less crime than the schools down the hill with SROs.”

Her remarks were parts of the minutes published on the parent-teacher organization’s website.

“A mom sitting next to me said directly to Dr. Artes, ‘Why does Evergreen High School not have an SRO?'” Evergreen High School PTSA President Cindy Mazeika said, 9News reported. “Then another parent asked, ‘What if there’s a shooting?'”

SROs did not become a widespread idea until the 1990s. 

The practice has faced its share of scrutiny — and support. 

Notably, the Denver Public Schools board voted to get rid of SROs in 2020, citing fears of “over-policing.” Under public pressure following the school shooting at East High School that left two administrators wounded in March 2023, the school board reversed its decision and returned SROs to schools. 

At the state Capitol, one perennial topic of debate is funding to beef up security measures, along with the all-too familiar arguments over the role of police officers in ensuring the safety of students and school staff.

Colorado School Safety Resource Center Director Chris Harms told The Denver Gazette that no one tracks the number of school resource officers. The estimate is around 200 to 300 to cover 1,900 buildings.

The state doesn’t fund SROs; their salaries are split between local law enforcement agencies and the school districts.

“Public Safety does the training under a grant that’s running out. The situation in Evergreen is pretty typical; SROs rotate among the schools,” Harms said. “Jeffco is better prepared for this kind of thing than anywhere in the country.”

But SROs can only do so much, according to Jeff Pierson, executive director of safety and security for Jefferson County Public Schools.

“We can provide as much of a secure perimeter as we want. We cannot allow visitors in. We can put secure vestibules and lock doors,” Pierson told The Denver Gazette in 2024. “But what we’ve found is a lot of the tragedies are being done by former students or students, which tells us that we’ve got to pay attention to the internal pieces of mental health awareness.”

Colorado Politics reporter Marianne Goodland contributed to this report.

What we know about the alleged Evergreen High School shooter

At around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Evergreen High School student Desmond Holly allegedly entered his school with a gun and began shooting at his classmates.

The 16-year-old student kept firing and reloading a revolver, critically injuring two other students before turning the gun on himself, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. He later died at the hospital.

“I have to believe when you bring a gun to school and you continue to fire and reload, you are on a mission,” Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Jacki Kelley said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that they were incredibly fortunate more people were not injured in the event.

The shooting left the small mountain community stunned. Parents and family members wept and hugged one another as they stood in line to pick up their children from the reunification point on Wednesday, just hours after some of those same students had run for their lives.

A shy student

A similar scene unfolded at a vigil on Thursday night, when hundreds of community members gathered. After the event, multiple current and former Evergreen High School students told The Denver Gazette about their experience with Holly, labelling him as a shy, reserved student who didn’t have many friends.

“He wasn’t a happy person,” said Gentry Kaber, a former classmate of Holly’s.

Kaber’s older sister, Lily, just graduated from Evergreen in the spring and also knew Holly, he said, adding that she called him in a state of panic when she heard the news.

“He would have his hood up, he would just mope around, not very talkative, just stay to himself,” Kaber said. “You think if someone ended up doing that at my school or my place of work, would I be a target of that? It’s just a scary thought.”

But what Holly wasn’t shy about was his possession of a handgun. Five days before the shooting, he posted a photo of a handgun to an X account law enforcement sources confirmed was his own, according to 9News. The post was captioned “Little .38 special I got.”

He then posted the photo again, this time without a caption, on Wednesday, just over an hour before the first reports came in about the shooting. The gun depicted in the post is the same type of revolver authorities said Holly used.

The son of entrepreneurial parents

Holly’s parents, Morgan Holly and Julia Jones, are listed as co-founders of Bitpress, a post-production company that optimizes content monetization, according to its website. One of its recent clients was the BBC, which enlisted the organization to provide insights on its expansive media library, the company said in a March news release.

While both parents have deactivated their LinkedIn accounts, Google search results list each of them as co-founders of the organization. Additionally, while both no longer appear on the company’s “About Us” page, an internet archive search reveals they did as of mid-August.

On that page, Morgan is listed as having previous senior roles in engineering, operations and creative production at other post-production companies. Jones is credited with having been the co-founder of four startups.

Bitpress did not respond to a request for comment.

Before Morgan Holly privatized his Facebook profile, The Denver Gazette was able to capture screenshots of several posts. Many of the posts shared anti-Trump sentiments. Some showed people shooting firearms.

One of them, from March 8, showed four people holding hand-drawn posters at a rally at the Capitol in Denver. The caption listed the people as Morgan’s niece, a friend, Morgan’s daughter and his sister, and noted that Jones and Desmond were also in attendance.

A screenshot of a post from Morgan Holly’s Facebook page, taken before he privatized his account Thursday morning. (Emily Bejarano / The Denver Gazette)

March 8 was the date that the International Women’s Day protests took place across the United States. One of the signs held up by the photo’s subjects read: “I’d throw eggs at Trump but they are too expensive.”

Another post from Jan. 27 showed a figure with a mask on. The caption said that Desmond created it with a 3D printer he got for Christmas.

A screenshot of a post from Morgan Holly’s Facebook page, taken before he privatized his account Thursday morning. (Emily Bejarano / The Denver Gazette)

That specific mask — originally used to depict a character in a David Lloyd graphic novel series “V for Vendetta” — has been adopted by members and supporters of the hacktivism group Anonymous in recent years.

The group has taken credit for a litany of online attacks on web servers since the mid-2000s, including the U.S. Department of Justice and other government agencies, according to Politico.

A radicalized teen

Kelly said during Thursday’s news conference that Holly had been radicalized by an “extremist network,” but did not share much more information.

Holly’s social media accounts, including his TikTok account, had been removed from their respective sites by Friday afternoon.

The teen had been active on a website that emphasized content about other school shootings and had also been used by other mass attackers, the Anti-Defamation League said on its website Friday. Additionally, he had used terms and symbols associated with neo-Nazis and antisemitic viewpoints.

A TikTok post from a few days before the shooting depicted Holly wearing a shirt that mimicked one worn by one of the attackers in the Columbine High School shooting, a garment he created himself, according to the ADL.

An irreversible impact

The two students wounded in Wednesday’s shooting remained hospitalized due to their injuries by Friday afternoon, officials said. One is in critical condition.

One of the victims has been identified as 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone, the sheriff’s office said on Thursday. In a corresponding statement, his family asked for privacy. The other victim’s family declined to have their child publicly identified.

Evergreen High School may reopen, but could remain closed longer, Kelly said.

“We cannot pretend this is just another tragic incident,” said Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Tracy Dorland in a statement on Wednesday. “The pain of this incident reopens old wounds. I know there are many in our Jeffco community hurting and grieving tonight, in Evergreen and beyond.”

The Denver Gazette’s news partner 9News and reporter Emily Bejarano contributed to this report.

Denver City Council to vote on ‘Waste No More’ bill

Monday’s Denver City Council meeting will see the return of several interesting bills for final consideration.

The first, Council Bill 25-1208, proposes to amend existing ordinances to increase the number of board members of the Denver Downtown Development Authority (DDDA) and allow an option for City Council members, other than the current president, to serve on the board. 

Then there’s Council Bill 25-0628, which will amend the city code related to Denver’s Waste No More ballot initiative. The bill, if approved, would require composting for multi-family residential buildings, non-residential buildings that handle food, such as restaurants, large outdoor events that serve food, construction and demolition projects larger than 500 square feet, and remodeling and renovation projects larger than 2,500 feet.

Denver voters approved the Waste No More ballot initiative in November of 2022, which aims to increase recycling and composting across the city’s businesses, residential buildings, construction sites and events in an effort to divert waste from landfills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Although approved nearly three years ago, with a phased implementation schedule, enforcement of the ordinance was postponed to mid-2026 to accommodate adjustments to timelines, fine-tuning definitions and exemptions, as well as outlining the process for enforcement.

Delays also stemmed from concerns over undue pressure on small businesses.

There will be a total of four proclamations at Monday’s meeting — two in the 3:30 p.m. session, honoring Denver Crime Lab National Forensic Science Week, and recognizing and responding to Food Insecurity in the City and County of Denver.

The third, a proclamation on consent, will declare Sept. 21 as Jill Sobule Day.

In the 5:30 p.m. session, the Denver City Council will honor the Hispanic Arts Heritage of Colorado during Hispanic Heritage Month.

Also in the 5:30 p.m. session are four public hearings:

Council Bill 25-1091: A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 4626 E. Louisiana Ave. in Virginia Village.

Council Bill 25-1071: A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 1717 E. 39th Ave. in Cole.

Council Bill: 25-1079: A bill for an ordinance approving a proposed contract between the City and County of Denver and Oliver Buchanan Group, LLC, for the development of approximately 6.69 acres at 1717 E. 39th Ave., in Council District 9. 

Council Bill 25-1222: A bill for an ordinance approving the Rock Drill Urban Redevelopment Plan, the creation of the Rock Drill Urban Redevelopment Area and the Rock Drill Property Tax Increment Area and Sales Tax Increment Area. 

The Denver City Council will hold its regular meeting on Monday at 3:30 p.m., with the general public comment session scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Comfort Inn shelter to close as Denver’s homeless strategy evolves

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston plans to close the Comfort Inn, one of the city’s larger homeless shelter hotels, and cease funding for the Monroe Village tiny home micro community, converting it to workforce housing. 

Citing fewer people living on the streets, officials said the decision comes as the next phase of the mayor’s efforts to end homelessness and will redirect city resources toward treatment and permanent solutions to include long-term housing.

These changes, city officials said, will save the city $11 million in 2026.

“In just two years, we have changed the landscape of homelessness in Denver and we are not slowing down,” Johnston said in a statement. “The next phase of All In Mile High will build on our progress, with a laser focus on getting more people into permanent housing, putting more people to work, and removing barriers to success for those with the most severe forms of addiction and mental illness.”

The Comfort Inn, located on Quebec Street, will close in March of 2026, and funding for the Monroe Village tiny home micro community on Monroe Street will cease by June 2026, city officials said, adding that neither site was intended as a long-term component of the mayor’s All In Mile High Initiative. 

All residents at the two locations will be offered housing or a room at another shelter. 

“Providing shelter is only the first step in solving homelessness,” District 8 Councilmember Shontel M. Lewis said. “I’m proud that we’re making progress on getting people into housing faster and I will work with the administration to ensure no one ends up back on the street during this transition.”

Johnston will host a community town hall at the Central Park Rec Center on Thursday, Sept. 25 to discuss the future of All In Mile High, the Comfort Inn closure, and other neighborhood priorities. 

Doors open for the event at 5 p.m., with the program lasting from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

In December 2024, an agreement with the city was reached to extend an existing contract with Quebec Hospitality, LLC, the owner of the former Comfort Inn at 4685 N. Quebec St. This location is one of four operated by the city in Denver’s District 8, providing support to the homeless in transitioning from the streets to more stable housing.

Under the new agreement, the city will pay an additional $6.5 million to the hotel owner, bringing the total contract value to just over $12.3 million and extending the city’s access to the hotel for use as a homeless shelter through Feb. 28, 2025.

Denver added an additional $5 million to the lease in April, extending access to the hotel through the end of 2025, bringing the total spent on the property to more than $17 million, according to city documents.

Dre Greenlaw, Nate Adkins ruled out against Colts with injuries | Broncos notebook

ENGLEWOOD — Broncos inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw and tight end Nate Adkins have been ruled out against the Colts on Sunday due to injuries. 

Greenlaw (quad) participated Friday in the media viewing portion of practice and was upgraded to limited. He later worked on the side field with defensive line teammate Malcom Roach, who was placed on injured reserve (calf) prior to Week 1 against the Titans.  

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw (57) is introduced before an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams in Santa Clara, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Adkins (ankle) returned to the practice field for the first time on Thursday as a limited participant. He was also limited on Friday. 

Three players listed on the injury report — tight end Evan Engram, defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers and inside linebacker Alex Singleton — are on track to play against Indianapolis with no injury designations. 

Engram participated Friday in the media viewing portion of practice. He was a limited participant on Wednesday before his status shifted to full on Thursday and Friday. Engram suffered a calf injury against the Titans and did not return to play. 

Singleton (thumb) and Franklin-Myers (knee) were also cleared the play on Sunday against the Colts. 

Colts injuries 

Two key pieces in the Colts’ secondary have been ruled out on Sunday due to injuries.  

Cornerbacks Charvarius Ward (concussion) and Jaylon Jones (hamstring) will not play against the Broncos, coach Shane Steichen told Indianapolis media on Friday. Their likely replacements include cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Mekhi Blackmon, who played in college for the Colorado Buffaloes.  

It sets up well for a bounce-back performance from Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. The second-year starter mostly struggled in the season opener against the Titans. Nix completed 25 of 40 passes for 176 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions and a lost fumble. 

“We pay attention to all of that,” coach Sean Payton said regarding the Colts’ injury report. “Sometimes, you want to see in the first series … all right, who is taking over the role.”

RB rotation

It appears likely that running back Jaleel McLaughlin will be inactive for a second consecutive game.

The Broncos opted to sit McLaughlin for Week 1 against the Titans as a healthy scratch. That opened the door for Tyler Badie to be the team’s third running back behind J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey.

Badie did not record any rushing stats in the win over Tennessee. But he received six passing targets with two catches for 16 yards. Badie also played a key role in pass protection on mainly third downs.

Payton explained on Friday how Badie’s strengths are a factor in game planning against the Colts.

“We think (Badie) can run well, he’s good in the pickups (and) he’s good in the passing game. You know exactly what you’re getting,” Payton said. “This week is a significant week in the protections because of the amount of pressure looks we get. There was quite a bit of time spent on third down … even second down. They will give you some exotic looks that you really have to be ready for. (Badie) was someone coming on last year, even as a runner.”

Warren watch

Colts first-round draft pick Tyler Warren is already turning heads after just one game.

The No. 14 overall pick from Penn State logged seven catches for 76 yards in his NFL debut with Indianapolis handing the Dolphins a 33-8 loss.

Payton said that “we liked him” coming into the draft and described Warren as “big, rugged, physical (and) strong.” It poses a difficult challenge for defensive coordinator Vance Joseph on Sunday.

“He’s an all-around good player,” Joseph said regarding Warren. “You saw it last week in the first two or three drives. The plays are being designed for him to make, and he is making them. Having a plan for that player is going to be critical.”

Hall of fame nominees

Seven former Broncos were among 162 nominees in the seniors category of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2026, the team announced on Friday.

The Broncos included were Lionel Taylor, Rick Upchurch, Karl Mecklenburg, Goose Gonsoulin, Dennis Smith, Louis Wright and Neil Smith.

Three finalists will be selected later this fall.

Evergreen’s Annie Oakley is a real-life Marine Sergeant

Imagine how Marine Sergeant Michele Crowe must have felt while working her job as an ultrasound tech on Wednesday when she heard that an active shooter had opened fire at nearby Evergreen High School.

You can’t. Not unless you, too, have served two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and engaged enemy combatants in gunfire. Crowe is also currently starring as famed Wild West sharpshooter Annie Oakley in the Irving Berlin musical “Annie Get Your Gun” for a small community theater in Evergreen called Ovation West Performing Arts.

Crowe’s first thoughts were that three members of her cast were at the school when the shooting began. A few more are parents or teachers of students there. How were they? Crowe’s instinct was, is, and always will be to protect those around her. 

“Yesterday, you wouldn’t think that anything could possibly affect these kids,” she said. “But this is obviously so traumatic for them. It sounds so ridiculous to even have to say this, but I think they are so brave for even walking into those buildings every day. It’s crazy to me that this is still happening.”

Michele Grimes performs as Annie Oakley in a party scene from Ovation West’s ‘Annie Get Your Gun.’ Performances for this coming weekend have been canceled because of the Evergreen High School shooting. ELLEN NELSON

The 47th U.S school shooting this year awoke the Lioness in Crowe – literally. In 2007, Crowe was one of the first volunteers for the Lioness Program, which asked female Marines to conduct culturally sensitive weapons searches on women and children at security checkpoints in Iraq without violating local customs that prohibit men from physically interacting with women.

“Doing any kind of intel on women simply could not be done by our male military members,” said Crowe, “especially if we were trying to respect the culture while we were there.”

Up until then, female Marines were not allowed to participate in combat. At the time, that left Crowe as a bored communications specialist. So when the call came to be a Lioness, she said, “I was like, ‘Please. I am ready and willing. Let’s do this.’”

The Marines have a term for the line that Crowe was about to cross. “We would call it ‘going outside the wire,’” she said. “Our bases were spotty all throughout the Middle East, So, when you were on base, you were fine. But going outside the wire was dangerous. And they were now looking for females who were willing to go there.”

Crowe’s work included going to clinics and schools to meet up with local women and children, and help them with their needs. “You’re bringing things to them that they need, and you’re giving them educational materials,” she said. “It was a really good experience and I loved what I was doing.”

So much so that when Crowe got back to the States, she immediately re-upped as the newly renamed Female Engagement Team was being expanded into Afghanistan.

Broken Arrow beginnings

Crowe does not come from a traditional generational military family. She grew up as a proud Disney princess in Broken Arrow, Okla. She even hung a Disney princess calendar from her Middle Eastern bunk. Her jam is Belle – the self-sufficient, booksmart heroine of “Beauty and the Beast,” “although I have a very tight connection with Mulan as well,” she said of ”another warrior trying to make her family proud.”

Crowe began performing on local theater stages at just 5 years old, “so I was in it from the get-go,” she said. “A lot of my life, especially my teen years, were focused around musical theater. I also did a lot of sports, like soccer and martial arts.”

After a year studying musical theater at a New York conservatory, financial uncertainty led Crowe to sign up for the Marines, never having fired a weapon. “They said I had no bad habits,” she said with a laugh.

Thus began a five-year odyssey that sent Crowe all over the world. When her time ended in November 2011, she already was accepted to Cal-State Fullerton to again pursue musical theater, this time courtesy of the G.I. Bill. Along the way, she picked up a degree in sonography from Cypress College in nearby Long Beach, which is how she landed her present job as an ultrasound tech in West Denver. (She also pulls some on-call shifts for emergency rooms in Littleton and Lakewood.)

Crowe moved out to Colorado at the end of 2017, but the demanding hours of her various medical jobs were not conducive to returning to performing, even as a side interest. But by 2022, she made it a priority to somehow make it work. She quickly found herself cast in “Beauty and the Beast” for the Wesley Players in Highlands Ranch – not as her beloved Belle but rather as … a Napkin?!? She also appeared in “First Date” at the Louisville Center for the Arts and as Femina in “Man of La Mancha” for Ovation West, which, with “Annie Get Your Gun,” at long last, “has cast me in my first lead in many, many years,” she said.

Crowe, now 37, returned to her now split life in the theater, she said, because she had to. “It’s part of who I am,” she said. Crowe didn’t immediately equate performing as a way of processing the totality of her military experience. But it has made her feel whole again. And whatever makes us whole could be considered therapy.

“I did engage in combat over there. I was in multiple firefights,” said Crowe, who earned a combat action ribbon for her service, which is almost unheard of for female Marines. “But it happened, and it was just part of being there. It’s funny, tying this all back to Annie Oakley: We really did call (the Afghan drug battleground city of) Marjah the wild, Wild West of the Middle East, because you never knew what was going to happen there.”

When she finally got out of the military, Crowe said, “I was champing at the bit to do theater. I had put my life on hold, and I could not wait to kind of get back to me. You just feel like this whole other person in the military, and I was ready to jump back into my body, literally. I was very ready to get back and tell stories.”

Retired Air Force Colonel Michelle Ruehl can relate. Long before she took over the Academy’s vaunted cadet theater company called the Bluebards, and long before she, too, was deployed to Afghanistan, she wrote a doctoral dissertation focused on how theater can help individuals and communities heal from personal, social and historical trauma.

And after the events of the past two days, she said, we need live theater now more than ever.

“At times of personal or national tragedy, I can tell you that theater is the only place where people can gather and grieve and emote, and where that is not only appropriate, but accepted and necessary,” said Ruehl, who knows what Crowe gets out of performing in front of an audience, even without ever having met her.

Among other things, Ruehl said, “theater creates a space for community dialogue. Theater also gives trauma survivors a chance to connect with one another by deeply experiencing their common humanity.”

Put simply, she added, “theater gives us a modality, a ritual as old as time, to gather, make meaning out of trauma, connect through a common human experience, engage in difficult dialogue, give testimony, purge the pain, rehearse new ways of being after tragedy, and start a healing process.”

To quote the American spiritual teacher and philosopher Ram Dass, she added: “We’re all just walking each other home.”

Crowe has found common ground with fellow actor and fellow Marine Adam Driver, who has said that he found making live theater helpful to him after his military service ended, because it helped him to articulate his feelings and reduce his feelings of aggression by allowing him to put words to his experiences in a way that was lacking in the military.

When Crowe was chosen by director Timothy Kennedy to play the title role in “Annie Get Your Gun,” it made for an irresistibly cute casting twist, at first. After all, no one would have to tell a highly trained Marine Sergeant how Annie Oakley would handle her rifle. But that all turned deadly serious on Wednesday as the cast and crew of nearly 40, ranging in age from 9 to 70, began to process the unthinkable news that three students had just been shot at school. 

Suddenly, all of them find themselves “outside the wire.”

Daniel Sares as Frank Bulter and Michele Grimes as Annie Oakley in Ovation West’s ‘Annie Get Your Gun,’ running Sept. 18-28 in Evergreen. ELLEN NELSON

There will come the solace that comes from performing again, but that won’t happen this weekend. Ovation West Executive Director Graham Anduri met Thursday with a trauma counselor who worked with survivors of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, and he has since decided to pause the run of “Annie Get Your Gun” for a week.

The show is expected to resume Sept. 18 and close Sept. 28, as scheduled, but nothing is definite. “Given the nature of the show, the board and staff of Ovation West will be assessing how and whether to move forward with the remaining performances of the production,” Anduri wrote ion the company’s website on Thursday. “More information will be forthcoming early next week.”

Anduri plans to retain a local counselor to meet with the cast and crew at a private gathering this weekend. The staging contains some necessary gunfire – understandable given the story – but if the production continues, further decisions will be made in the coming days to reduce potential trauma to audiences or performers.

I asked Crowe what she might say to a young cast member who should come to her for guidance in her role as both the leading actor in the musical and a real-life combat veteran.

“Oh, man, that is a hard question,” she said. “But I think I would tell them, as a veteran, this is why things need to change.

Because when Annie Oakley and all these Wild West people had these guns, they were using them for different things. They were protecting their cattle. They were finding food for their families. Back then, it took two minutes to prepare a musket to fire one round. But all of those things have changed, and our bills and our amendments need to change with them. Because what we said in 1775 and ‘76 doesn’t apply anymore.”

Crowe understands the need for the community to take this moment to reflect, but she can’t wait to get back to playing Annie Oakley, the first female superstar in a male-dominated field, because she wears the character like a second skin.

“As she went around the world, all these heads of state ended up loving her despite how rough she was around the edges,” Crowe said. “But I know she had her hard days when not everyone cared to see her. Still, she just held her head high and did what she did best – and that shut them up.

“I did that, too,” she added. “There were many, many … many people who told me to my face: ‘You don’t belong here. We don’t want you here.’ I had men in my own unit tell me, ‘If something goes down, know that I’m protecting you because you’re a Marine – and that’s the only reason. Otherwise, you have no business being here.’

“And I know Annie probably heard that same thing in her day.”

Crowe hopes that those closest to the Evergreen tragedy can see their musical offering as a coping mechanism. “I hope people do what we always do with theater – and that is to use it as an escape and to lift our spirits for a few hours,” she said.

“And I can’t wait to see those kids. They are gems, every single one of them.”

Newly discovering life outside the wire.

John Moore is The Denver Gazette’s senior arts journalist. Email him at john.moore@gazette.com

Cast members from Ovation West’s ‘Annie Get Your Gun,’ running through Sept. 28 in Evergreen. The show opened Sept. 5 but there will be no performances this coming weekend because of the shooting at nearby Evergreen High School. ELLEN NELSON

Denver backs legal challenge to Trump’s use of National Guard

Denver has joined 26 other local governments in an amicus brief supporting California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles. 

“In Denver, our residents are connected with police who live on the same streets they patrol and with officers who grew up in the same communities they’re sworn to protect. That’s why our crime rates are plummeting,” Mayor Mike Johnston said in a statement. “What the Trump Administration is doing in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. isn’t a strategy for fighting crime. It’s a federal police state meant to sow chaos, cause disruption, and strip rights away from local governments and citizens.”

An amicus brief is a legal document that allows a party to provide an outside perspective on an issue under litigation. 

In the brief filed on Tuesday, Denver argues that the deployment of military troops for policing purposes “dramatically increases the risk of irreparable injury to constitutional sovereignty promised by the 10th Amendment, the fundamental constitutional rights of residents, and the general welfare of the public.”

The city also asserts to the court that local police departments are better suited to serve residents while protecting their rights under local, state and federal laws.

During an Aug. 27 Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session, Johnston called Trump’s “militarization” of the nation’s cities “unprecedented” and “dangerous.” He promised to take the administration to court “on Day One” should the White House send federal troops to Denver. 

“Any first-year law student in America could tell you that deploying the U.S. military on the streets of American cities in times of peace to enforce domestic law is clearly illegal,” the mayor posted. “Denver does not need any help from the National Guard, as we are seeing the largest decrease in violent crime of any top 50 city in the country.”

After the Trump administration deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers and Marines to Los Angeles following protests over immigration raids, Newsom, a Democrat, sued, arguing the president’s actions violated federal law.

On Sept. 2, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer ruled in a 52-page opinion that Trump’s decision to deploy troops in Los Angeles was illegal.

The federal court’s ruling against the Trump administration’s use of the National Guard troops in California does not automatically apply to other states.

25-3727_amicus-brief-filedDownload

Republican strategists contend Democrats are in a bind over how to react to Trump’s directive based on high crime rates in Democrat-led cities. FBI data show that 19 of the 20 cities with the highest murder rates and at least 100,000 residents in 2024 had Democratic mayors.

The National Police Association earlier said it welcomes more “boots on the ground,” referring to Trump’s executive order creating a series of specialized military units within the National Guard that, under the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, would be “specifically trained and equipped to deal with public disorder issues.”

The Trump executive order is a positive step toward rectifying a decrease in “boots-on-the-ground law enforcement” over the past decade, National Police Association spokesperson Betsy Brantner Smith told technology publication Smart Cities Dive.

“The order declares that safe communities depend on a tough and well-equipped police force,” she told the publication. “That’s something that the president has said with some frequency — let cops be cops.”

Denver recently filed a motion to dismiss the Trump administration’s lawsuit against the city and state, claiming it was an unlawful attempt to overturn local policy on immigration. The city has also filed four lawsuits against the administration.

This summer, the city was granted a preliminary injunction preventing Trump’s threats to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in allocated transportation funding.

The city also joined Chicago and Pima County, Arizona, in seeking to recover $24 million in FEMA dollars allocated for the purposes of sheltering and assisting migrants. 

That case is still pending.

The city has also received a favorable ruling in two other cases where the administration has threatened to withhold federal dollars – one over so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” and the other over funding to prevent large-scale security threats.

‘Kids look to their parents’ — experts urge calm, routine after Evergreen shooting

The adolescent brain craves routine and structure.

And in the aftermath of a school shooting, mental health experts said keeping life as predictable as possible is a key strategy for helping students recover.

“We want to keep the structure in place that helps our kids and our families feel a sense of control,” said Monica Fitzgerald, director of Center for Resilience and Wellbeing at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Fitzgerald added: “We really want to hone in on our routines. That’s going to help our kids feel safe.”

The center is a group of educators, psychologists and social workers whose mission is to cultivate “the power of connection to foster resilience” in children and the adults who support them, according to the organization’s website.

FILE PHOTO: Parents comfort their children as they pick them up from a designated pick up point at Bergen Meadow Elementary after a shooting at Evergreen High School left at least three in critical condition at on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Stephen Swofford, Denver Gazette)

On Wednesday, Desmond Holly, 16, allegedly entered Evergreen High School with a revolver, fired and reloaded multiple times, injuring two students before turning the gun on himself.

The weeks following a distressing event can be crucial.

“Kids really look to their parents at times like this,” said Angela Narayan, a professor of clinical child psychology at the University of Denver.

“As adults, we can’t say to kids, ‘Don’t worry, it’s not going to happen again. Don’t worry,’” Narayan said. “That wouldn’t be a truthful thing to say. That’s the thing that’s really, really alarming with these school shootings — that they’re still happening.”

An academic researcher and expert on childhood trauma and resilience, Narayan said the best predictor of how adolescents recover are their parents — a finding supported by decades of research.

In much the same way the advice on an airplane is for parents to place the mask on their face before their children, adults should check in with themselves first, these experts said.

The reason?

Because when parents are stressed, their children often feel it too.

‘Worries in their backpacks’

Experts recommended several practical strategies adults and students can use. For example, limiting media exposure can help reduce anxiety while regular breaks, physical activities and deep breathing exercises give the body a chance to reset.

Monica Fitzgerald is the director of Center for Resilience and Wellbeing at the University of Colorado Boulder. (Courtesy photo)

Sticking to familiar routines — mealtimes, bedtimes and schoolwork — provides stability. And reaching out to supportive friends and family can help kids feel less isolated.

Labeling emotions is equally as important.

“I’m better able to regulate a feeling if I can first name it,” Fitzgerald said. “Labeling feelings is really a fundamental skill for adults and for kids.”

This — coupled with a warm tone, acknowledging the situation, being present, reassuring their safety but not making promises — will go a long way to helping students regulate their emotions.

“So, they don’t have to carry around their worries in their backpacks,” Fitzgerald said.

That — with frequent check ins.

“Multiple, short conversations can be more powerful than a single big conversation,” Fitzgerald added.

JeffCo Public Schools’ officials shuttered 10 campuses in Jefferson County between Evergreen and Conifer to give students, staff and families time to process the trauma.

JeffCo Public Schools Superintendent Tracy Dorland.

“I am devastated to share this news with you, and I am also angry,” JeffCo Public Schools Superintendent Tracy Dorland said in a statement in the hours after the shooting. “No child should ever face this kind of danger, and no community should be asked to absorb this kind of pain.”

‘No one size fits all approach’

In the wake of a traumatic event, like a school shooting, feeling overwhelmed is the brain’s natural response.

“All brains struggle to make sense of experiences and it’s hard to do that with all the fear and unpredictability and threat,” Narayan said.

Angela Narayan is professor of clinical child psychology at the University of Denver. (Courtesy photo)

The after-affects can last up to a month or more, depending on how an individual’s brain processes the event and the proximity to it.

When an event is neutral or positive, the memory fades over time. But with a traumatic event, the protective brain shields those memories.

“You’re not going to remember everything because the brain is so overwhelmed,” Narayan said.

That means some students and adults could need support weeks and months after the shooting has receded from the headlines.

Acute stress — these experts said — can linger with nightmares or feelings of shock, disbelief and overwhelm.

“There is no one size fits all approach,” Narayan said.

Deepening a sense of community will be crucial for weathering the crisis as feelings of isolation can exacerbate stress, anxiety and depression.

Located about 30 miles west of Denver, Evergreen is an unincorporated mountain community with a population of less than 10,000 people located in Jefferson County.

While students and families live in a more-spread-out area in Evergreen, community leaders may want to make a collective plan to bring people together, experts said.

But the mountains can also be an asset.

“We can really leverage the mountains and nature to find healing,” Narayan said.