By Brian Maass | CBS Colorado
A year ago, Evergreen High School was the scene of chaos and fear.
Today, the Colorado school has two new members of its community — two dogs whose presence has become part of the daily rhythm of the school, offering students and staff something they desperately needed after a shooting shattered their sense of safety.
On Sept. 10, 2025, a 16-year-old Evergreen High School student opened fire, shooting two other students before fatally shooting himself. Both wounded students survived.
The shooting sent students scrambling from the school and brought hundreds of law enforcement officers to the foothills campus.
A year later, the physical evidence of that day has largely disappeared.
The memories have not.
For Sue Ryan, an emergency room doctor who has spent 32 years treating trauma in Denver, the shooting hit particularly close to home.
Ryan had just participated in a panel about mass gun violence that included survivors of the Columbine High School shooting when a colleague approached her.
“She taps me and says hey can we go to Evergreen? And I’m like why are we going to Evergreen? There’s been another shooting and they want us there,” recalled Ryan.
Ryan went to Evergreen the next day.
She brought Peppi.
The six-year-old Labrador is a Canine Companions facility dog. Canine Companions trains facility dogs to work alongside professionals in settings including schools, hospitals and other environments serving vulnerable populations. The dogs are selected and trained for traits including calmness, reliability and affection.
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