One of the two students accused of opening fire on classmates at their Denver high school has faced court after being charged with murder over the attack that left one dead and eight injured.
Devon Erickson, 18, covered his face with his streaked purple hair and was wearing nail polish when he made his brief court appearance on Wednesday dressed in a red prison jumpsuit and handcuffs.
Erickson was earlier charged as an adult with first-degree murder and attempted murder over the shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Denver on Tuesday afternoon.
No plea was entered and Erickson was ordered to return to court on Friday.
Maya McKinney, the teen’s accused accomplice, is also due to face court but is being charged separately as a juvenile.
Authorities described McKinney as a female juvenile after initially identifying the student as a boy based on appearances.
The pair were both taken into custody immediately after they stormed two classrooms and opened fire with handguns that were concealed in a guitar case.
Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old senior who was just three days away from graduating, was shot dead when he tried to lunge at one of the shooters.
Eight students suffered gunshot wounds in the shooting and three of them remain in intensive care in hospital. Five had been discharged from the hospital by Wednesday morning.
Devon Erickson, 18, covered his face with his streaked purple hair and was wearing nail polish when he made his brief court appearance on Wednesday dressed in a red prison jumpsuit and handcuffs
Erickson was earlier charged as an adult with first-degree murder and attempted murder over the shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Denver on Tuesday afternoon
Authorities have not yet released a motive for the shooting, which occurred just miles from the scene of the deadly 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said they had initially believed the young shooter, McKinney, was a male based on appearances and were not able to confirm a gender until an interview had taken place.
The younger student is reportedly in the process of transitioning from female to male but Sheriff Tony Spurlock would not confirm if the young suspect was transgender.
Kendrick Castillo, 18, died on Tuesday afternoon when two students stormed STEM School Highlands Ranch in Denver and opened fire with at least two handguns
‘Right now we are identifying the individual as a female, because that’s where we’re at,’ he said. ‘We originally thought the juvenile was a male by appearance.’
It is understood McKinney goes by the name Alec.
Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said the student that was killed was just three days away from graduating.
Classmates said Castillo was among a group of three students who tried to take down one of the shooters by tackling them when they stormed the classroom.
The father of one of those heroic students, Brendan Bialy, told the New York Times that the trio tackled the shooters when they entered the classroom ‘and one pulled a gun out of a guitar case’.
He said ‘his son and two friends tried to tackle the gunman but one of the boys was shot in the chest’.
‘We’re going to hear about very heroic things that have taken place at the school,’ Sheriff Spurlock said.
The two suspects opened fire in two separate classrooms in the high school section of the campus, which serves grades kindergarten through 12th.
Authorities said they went into the school through an entrance without metal detectors. They were arrested within minutes after administrators reported the gunfire, according to Sheriff Spurlock.
Spurlock said officers engaged the suspects and there was a struggle to bring them down but neither suspect was injured in the confrontation.
Authorities recovered three handguns and a rifle but said the latter was not used in the shooting. The two students were not old enough to buy or own the handguns.
Devon Erickson, 18, has been identified as one of the two suspects who allegedly opened fire on STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado on Tuesday afternoon
Terrified students were evacuated from the school after shots were fired at 1.53pm
Fernando Montoya (above with his daughter) said that his 17-year-old son was shot three times but was expected to make a full recovery
Authorities were seen outside a home in Highland Springs believed to be owned by Erickson’s parents, James and Stephanie, on Tuesday night
Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said Devon Erickson, 18, and a younger student walked into the STEM School Highlands Ranch through an entrance without metal detectors and opened fire with two handguns on students in two classrooms
Authorities were seen outside a home in Highland Springs believed to be owned by Erickson’s parents, James and Stephanie. The mother’s Facebook page was deleted shortly after news broke of the shooting.
A car spray painted with the words ‘f*** society’ was towed away from the house at around 10pm.
A criminal background check revealed Erickson’s almost unblemished record, which noted a ticket for careless driving issued in Douglas County on February 13, 2018.
His mother broke down in tears on Wednesday and said she didn’t know why her son opened fire on classmates, the New York Post reports.
The teen’s social media pages indicate that he is an avid guitar player, youth theater actor and registered Democrat who has on occasion expressed disdain for Christians, criticized President Donald Trump and praised former President Barack Obama.
In a post from 2014, Erickson wrote: ‘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. But all they get out of it is ‘ewwwwww gays’.’
In 2015 he shared a Facebook post by Occupy Democrats praising Obama, and in 2016 shared a video of TV host Seth Meyers criticizing Trump.
Erickson also has a YouTube channel where he posted videos of himself playing the guitar.
His Snapchat account is reportedly under the name ‘devonkills’.
In one Instagram post obtained by Heavy.com, Erickson wrote: ‘I’m covered in ink and addicted to pain.’
In another from 2018 he said: ‘I’m only posting one of my senior pictures so people don’t think I dropped out since I don’t take classes at stem anymore.’
A combination of factors, including revenge and anger, spurred the attack, the Denver TV ABC affiliate reported, citing law enforcement sources. One of the suspects had reportedly been bullied over gender identity.
Erikson was charged on Wednesday as an adult with murder and attempted murder
The teen’s social media pages indicate that he is an avid guitar player and a youth theater actor. Erickson also has a YouTube channel where he posted videos of himself playing the guitar
Fernando Montoya told television station KMGH that his 17-year-old son was shot three times but was expected to make a full recovery.
‘Thank God he is fine,’ Montoya said. ‘Even though he got shot, he’s OK. He’s going to walk out on his feet, so I’m glad. We’re so lucky.’
As gunfire echoed through the school, students hid or ran through the halls. Students ran through the halls shouting ‘School shooter!’ and some wondered at first if it was a joke or a drill.
‘No one really knew what was going on so I didn’t know they were bullets,’ said seventh-grader Sophia Marks. ‘I just kind of saw like flashes and we heard bangs.’
Student Nui Giasolli told the Today show she was in her British Literature class when Erickson came in late.
‘He walked to the other side of the classroom where we also had another door and he opened the door. He walked back as if he was going to go back to his seat, then he walked back to the door and he closed it. The next thing I know he’s pulling a gun and he’s telling nobody to move,’ she said.
Giasolli said another student lunged at the shooter, giving the other students time to dive under the desks and flee to safety.
‘To be some of the kids that were brave enough to bring him down so that all of us could escape and all of us could be reunited with our families. They were very heroic. I can’t thank them enough.’
Chris Elledge, 15, said his teacher told the class to hide behind weight equipment in the room, where they stayed until police arrived.
‘They busted in the room, and they were asking if there was any suspects in the room, if we were OK, and they escorted us out to go out to the front of the building,’ Elledge said.
Josh Dutton, 18, told The Associated Press that he was close friends with Devon Erickson in middle school but hadn’t seen him for four years as he went to a different high school.
On Sunday, he spotted Erickson at a local light rail station and said he was shocked at how much his friend had changed.
Erickson wore all black, a hat and sunglasses, was significantly skinnier and didn’t seem interested in talking.
‘He said he’d just turned 18 and he owned rifles,’ Dutton said.
A teacher embraces young students in a parking lot near the STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado on Tuesday after a shooter opened fire
Parents embrace their children as they are reunited at a recreation center near the school
Students and teachers hold their hands in the air as they exit the scene of the shooting
A massive police presence descended on the school minutes after shots were fired at 1.53pm
Parents pick up their children from the Recreation Center at Northridge in Highlands Ranch after the shooting at the STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday
Hundreds of people took to Twitter after news of the shooting broke to express their horror that yet another American school had been targeted.
The shooting is the 43rd incident of gunfire reported on a school campus so far in 2019 and the 116th mass shooting overall this year.
The STEM campus is located just seven miles from Columbine High School, where 13 people were killed and more than 20 were injured on April 20, 1999 – just over 20 years ago.
One student at a nearby high school tweeted: ‘Being a student in Colorado is terrifying. Threats, secure permitters, lockdowns, missing school because of credible threats, and now another school shooting. I’m tired. What is the government doing to help us? My death is inevitable. Please talk about this.’
Another user tweeted: ’20 years later, 7 miles from Columbine, and 0 actions taken in Washington to protect kids from gun violence.’
The White House issued the following statement about the shooting: ‘Our prayers are with the victims, family members, and all those affected by today’s shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Littleton, Colorado. Tragically, this community and those surrounding it know all too well these hateful and horrible acts of violence.
‘The White House has been in communication with state and local officials, and the President has been briefed and continues to monitor the ongoing situation. We offer our full support to local law enforcement and first responders and thank them for their heroism.’
Aspiring Marine and two classmates tackled one of the Denver high school shooters when they pulled a gun
An aspiring Marine student and his friends are being hailed as heroes for tackling one of the two shooters that stormed their Colorado high school classroom – costing one of the brave students their life.
Brendan Bialy, a senior at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Denver who wants to join the Marine Corps, jumped into action along with two friends when shooters Devon Erickson, 18, and an unidentified juvenile female pulled a gun on Tuesday afternoon.
One of the two brandished the weapon from a guitar case, ready to release a hail of bullets, when they were bombarded by the brave students.
Kendrick Castillo, 18, was shot in the chest as he lunged in front of the shooter, according to a classmate. The senior, who was set to graduate in three days, died from his wounds Tuesday afternoon.
Brendan Bialy, an aspiring Marine and senior at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Denver, bravely tackled down the gunmen that stormed his classroom on Tuesday
Brad Bialy, Brendan’s father, said his son and friends were able to subdue and disarm the shooter.
He told the New York Times ‘his son and two friends tried to tackle the gunman but one of the boys was shot in the chest’.
Brendan wants to join the Marine Corps after graduating.
The sheriff said ‘very heroic things took place’ inside the school as the shooting unfolded.
‘We are deeply saddened for the victims, families, friends, and community on this tragic day,’ the Bialy family said in an emailed statement issued by lawyer Mark L. Bryant.
‘We’d like to commend the immediate response of law enforcement and assure all we are strong with the love of our families, community, friends, and every one sending concern, wishes, and strength. We will persevere.’