A "juvenile female" and an 18-year-old man are in custody after a shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch in suburban Denver on Tuesday afternoon, which killed 1 student, identified as Kendrick Ray Castillo, 18, and injured 8 others.
The latest: Prosecutors have until 10 am next Wednesday to decide which charges to pursue against the 2 students suspected of carrying out the shooting that killed 1 student, reports AP. The delay will allow prosecutors to decide if they want to charge one of the alleged shooters, who is 16, as an adult. Both of the suspects will be held without bond until they are formally charged.
"I was hiding in the corner, and they were right outside the door. I had my hands on a metal baseball bat, just in case, because I was going to go down fighting if I was going to go down."
— CNN (@CNN) May 8, 2019
6th grader Nate Holley survived the shooting at his school in CO.https://t.co/4iN8WYI9T6 pic.twitter.com/k2KRqE4WHw
A letter from December 2018 has surfaced from an anonymous parent to the director of the STEM School, flagging “concerns about student violence due to a high-pressure environment,” and harkening back to the Columbine massacre of 1999, Reuters reports. In the letter, the parent told Douglas County School Board of Education Director Wendy Vogel that “many students are suicidal and violent in school. Several students have reported sexual assault and nothing is being done.”
What we know: Authorities responded to a middle school administrator's phone call just before 2 pm MST Tuesday. Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said at a press conference the 2 suspects were believed to be students of the school, which serves students from kindergarten through 12th grade. They were armed with at least 2 handguns, which they could not have purchased on their own due to their ages, he said.
- Authorities said at a news conference 3 students who leapt from their desks to tackle the gunman saved lives, AP reports. Among them was Castillo. His close friend Brendan Bialy said he called out to Castillo after wrestling the gun away, but he was unresponsive. "Kendrick went out as a hero," he said.
- Spurlock said the 2 suspects engaged students at 2 separate locations, critically injuring some of those they shot.
- The FBI is leading the crime scene investigation, which it is still processing. Thus far, no motive has been determined.
- A Denver Post journalist on the scene shared video of a car being towed away from a suspect's house. "A pentagram was spray painted on hood, with the numbers 666," the reporter, Kieran Nicholson said in his tweet.
- Highland Ranch schools went into lockdown for several hours, according to the Douglas County School District. The STEM school was to remain closed for the rest of the week, it said.
- White House adviser Ivanka Trump canceled a visit to the nearby city of Littleton because the administration "did not want to divert resources or attention" from the shooting, according to the Denver Post. She tweeted her reaction to the 4th school shooting in Colorado since the Columbine massacre, as did many 2020 presidential candidates and her father, President Trump.
- Adult suspect Devon Erickson made his first court appearance on Wednesday afternoon on 1 count of suspicion of first-degree murder and 29 counts of attempted first-degree murder after deliberation.
Our Nation grieves at the unspeakable violence that took a precious young life and badly injured others in Colorado. God be with the families and thank you to the First Responders for bravely intervening. We are in close contact with Law Enforcement.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019
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