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Teen gunman's threat deemed low-level

LITTLETON, Colo. - Documents show that a teen who fatally shot another student at a Colorado school last year had been deemed "not a high-level of threat" after shouting a death threat against his debate coach three months earlier.

Authorities have said 18-year-old Karl Pierson was targeting the coach when he entered Arapahoe High School in December armed with a shotgun, a machete and homemade bombs.

Pierson killed a 17-year-old girl before taking his own life in the school library. The debate coach - a librarian - escaped unharmed.

The disciplinary records obtained by The Associated Press also show that Pierson was sent home from school early two days before the shooting after he pounded on a locked classroom door so hard that teachers in other classrooms could hear it.

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