Nuggets' Malone pleads for change after school shooting in Denver

Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone on Tuesday discussed the traumatic shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch in suburban Denver that left one student dead and several injured earlier that day.

"The (STEM) school is literally two minutes away from where I live, right down Broadway in Highlands Ranch," Malone said ahead of Game 5 against the Portland Trail Blazers, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "My wife and daughters know people. As a coach, I am somewhat of a recluse, but it's a close community.

"It's not just Highlands Ranch. It's not just Colorado. This is an epidemic. And it continues to happen. And that is the frustrating thing. How do you stop it? Again, gun control, laws, whatever it might be. I am not a politician. I don't want to sit up here on a soapbox. I just want everybody back at Highlands Ranch to know that we're with you and that is very important for them to know."

Malone has two daughters. They don't attend Highlands Ranch but were forced to experience their second lockdown in three weeks during the shooting due to the potential threat. He told reporters his wife called him as he was preparing for Game 5, informing him that their daughters were safe but that fear and uncertainty remained as they waited for the process to end.

"The thing that makes you angry is that she's telling me how scared my daughters are in their schools, texting her because they don't know what's going on - it's a lockout," Malone said. "Where's this shooter? Is it at our school? Some other school?

"The kids go to school, they should be going to school to learn, have fun, be with their friends. Not worry about an active shooter. ... It's just frustrating and it gets you angry because it hits home. And that's how I felt today."

Malone has been the Nuggets' head coach since 2015 and signed a two-year contract extension to remain in Denver before the start of the season.