One student is dead and 8 others injured, some critically, after two suspects opened fire at the STEM school at Ridgeline and Plaza in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Both suspects, who are in custody, are believed to be students at the school.
One innocent 18-year-old boy is dead. We now know his name is Kendrick Castillo and he died a hero, trying to subdue a killer. Other victims were 15 years of age and older. Three were released from the hospital as of Tuesday.
The suspects have issues:
One of the students is said to be a transgender male (a biological female transitioning to male). The other suspect publicly hated Christians and Donald Trump, according to Heavy.
On social media, Devon Erickson, a registered Democrat, expressed hatred for some Christians and shared posts criticizing Donald Trump and praising Barack Obama…
“You know what I hate? All these Christians who hate gays, yet in the bible, it says in Deuteronomy 17:12-13, if someone doesn’t do what their priest tells them to do, they are supposed to die. It has plenty of crazy stuff like that,” he wrote in one Facebook post a couple years ago. “But all they get out of it is ‘ewwwwww gays.’” In 2015, Erickson put a celebrate pride filter onto a Facebook picture.
There were heroes:
At least one heroic student, Brendan Bialy, is credited with tackling one of the two gunmen (it’s not clear which one), a family attorney says. His father told The New York Times that “his son told him that two students entered the classroom and one pulled a gun out of a guitar case.”
The elder Bialy also told the Times that “his son and two friends tried to tackle the gunman but one of the boys was shot in the chest.”…
…A woman who goes by the name Suz Perc on Twitter wrote that Kendrick Castillo saved her daughter’s life. “He and his classmate saved my daughter’s life today. Both amazing hero’s (sic), their bravery stopped more senseless tragedy. My daughter is home safe because of his sacrifice. True hero’s,” she wrote.
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More from The NY Daily News reports:
Late Tuesday night police identified one of the suspects as 18-year-old Devon Erickson but declined to give any more details or photos “as it could jeopardize this critical ongoing investigation,” the department said in a short statement.
The motive may have been linked to “revenge and anger toward others at the school,” KMGH said, adding that at least one of the two alleged shooters had been involved in drug use, both legal and illegal, and had undergone therapy.
Fortunately, deputies responded to the scene within two minutes as suspects fired from two different locations.
STEM School Highlands Ranch runs from kindergarten to 12th grade and serves 1,800 students. It is located about 7.5 miles southeast of Columbine, where gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 13 people and injured 21 others during an April 20, 1999, massacre.
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