The father of a student who was shot at STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday told Denver7 that his son said he was in a classroom when one of the shooters pulled out a gun and started firing. Fernando Montoya said his 17-year-old son was shot three times and taken to Sky Ridge Medical Center. He had been released from the hospital and was home by 9 p.m. "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." Montoya's son is a junior at the STEM school, where eight people were injured in the shooting Tuesday. Two suspects were in custody, and they were believed to be students at the school, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said. The suspects "got deep inside the school," Spurlock said, and shot at students in two separate locations. Montoya said his son told him that he didn't believe he was targeted in the shooting. "It's hard to believe that someone in the classroom is going to have a weapon and is just going to open fire like nothing," Montoya said. 'It's hard to believe that happened."<doc-sep>The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office identified one of the suspects in Tuesday’s deadly shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch as 18-year-old Devon Erickson. Investigators have not named the second suspect, a juvenile male, or explained the roles they allege each played in the shooting that claimed the life of one student and injured eight others inside the Highlands Ranch school. “We will not be releasing any photos at this time as it could jeopardize this critical ongoing (investigation),” sheriff’s officials tweeted. “We still have interviews to conduct and we want to make sure we have the most accurate information.” #stemshooting Adult suspect has been identified as Devon Erickson, age 18. We will not be releasing any photos at this time as it could jeopardize this critical on-going invest. We still have interviews to conduct and we want to make sure we have the most accurate information — DC Sheriff (@dcsheriff) May 8, 2019 Police could be seen outside the Erickson family’s home on Mountain Maple Avenue in Highlands Ranch on Tuesday night. The house itself was cordoned off with police tape and investigators could be seen inside. White Honda Civic has just been towed from suspect’s home in #STEMshooting pic.twitter.com/WcZ9Hjb7o7 — kieran nicholson (@kierannicholson) May 8, 2019 Authorities eventually towed a white Honda sedan from the property. A pentagram with the numbers “666” could be seen on the hood of the car, as well as the phrase “(expletive) society” on the passenger-side door. A neighbor who requested anonymity described the teen as “a quiet kid, small in stature,” and said the allegations he was involved in the shooting came as a shock. “There was nothing that would lead you to believe he’d be capable of doing this, not in a million years,” the neighbor said.<doc-sep>HIGHLANDS RANCH — One student was killed and eight more were wounded in a shooting Tuesday afternoon at STEM School Highlands Ranch allegedly committed by two of their peers, authorities say. Two shooters, one adult and one juvenile, entered the school just before 2 p.m. and “got deep inside the school and engaged students in two separate locations,” Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said. Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock talks about the shooting at STEM School in Highlands Ranch on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun) Both suspects, who are in custody, are students at the charter school, which is about 20 miles south of Denver, Spurlock said. He said investigators have recovered two handguns. The suspected shooters had not been on law enforcement’s radar, he said. He also said deputies still are investigating a motive, but that they did not appear to be targeting anyone in particular. “We have no information about anyone being targeted,” Spurlock said. The student who died has been identified as 18-year-old Kendrick Ray Castillo. He was three days from graduation. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office identified the adult suspect in the shooting as 18-year-old Devon Erickson. The second suspect, a juvenile, has not been identified. Authorities initially said that person was a male, but on Wednesday morning corrected that to identify the second shooter as a female. “We originally thought the juvenile was a male by appearance,” Spurlock said. Authorities were focusing on a car apparently belonging to the suspects that had been left in the school’s parking lot. Additional search warrants for their homes were being sought and carried out. Douglas County prosecutors said Erickson would go before a judge for his first hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. As for the second suspect, they were weighing whether to charge that person as an adult. “It’s something that we’re going to explore,” said 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler. The school has been cleared and investigators are no longer looking for additional suspects, Spurlock said. There was no school resource officer at the campus, authorities said. The school, however, does have private security who apprehended one of the suspects. The pair were taken into custody separately. Erin Triplett, right, hugs her daughter, who is an eighth grader at STEM Highlands Ranch School after the girl was escorted from the school after two students allegedly shot nine other kids there on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. (John Leyba, Special to The Colorado Sun) Douglas County Undersheriff Holly Nicholson-Kluth said the victims, who had gunshot wounds, were taken to local hospitals. Spurlock said all the victims were age 15 or older, but that none were staff or teachers at the school. Five patients were transported to Littleton Adventist Hospital, three were treated and released, and two others are in serious condition, spokeswoman Wendy Forbes said. One victim was transported to Children’s Hospital Colorado South Campus and is in good condition. Two others went to Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree and are in stable condition. School resource officers and deputies from a substation a block away were on site within two minutes of the shooting, reported just before 2 p.m. by a middle school administrator. Nicholson-Kluth said the officers heard gunfire as they arrived and as they entered the building. “Our officers were inside and we engaged the suspects. We did struggle with the suspects and they are in custody right now,” Spurlock said. “… We did not exchange any gunfire with them.” Nicholson-Kluth called the shooting a “very serious situation” and said that “quite a few shots were fired.” A combined SWAT team waits outside the middle school entrance at STEM School Highlands Ranch after a shooting that wounded at least eight students and left one dead. The shooting required the services of law enforcement across the Denver metro area, as well as the services of 79 fire department units, approximately 148 fire and medical personnel and 3 medical helicopters. (John Leyba, Special to The Colorado Sun) “This is a terrible event,” Spurlock said. “This is something no one wants to have happen in their community.” Deputies were going through the 1,850-student K-12 school room by room for at least an hour after the shooting, Nicholson-Kluth said. By about 5 p.m., some emergency vehicles were leaving the scene. The school, at 8773 S. Ridgeline Boulevard, is separated into elementary, middle and high school divisions. The area outside the school was extremely congested, with more than two dozen emergency response vehicles blaring their sirens and flashing their lights, including fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. South Metro Fire Rescue said 79 units, approximately 148 fire and medical personnel, and three medical helicopters from across the metro area responded to the shooting. Nicholson-Kluth asked parents not to drive down Plaza Drive toward the school. Students from the STEM school were being bused about a mile away to Northridge Recreation Center, at 8800 S Broadway. Parents must present identification to pick up their students. At the recreation center, the scene was one of immense emotion. A sheriff’s officer shouts directions to parents crowded into a gym at Northridge Recreation Center in Highlands Ranch after a shooting at nearby STEM School. Officers released students to their parents by calling out their names or their grade level, and then parents were escorted to meet them. (Jennifer Brown, The Colorado Sun) Outside the center, law enforcement officers were directing tearful parents inside a gymnasium, the site of a “parent reunification” center. School buses full of children were arriving. Parents crowded into a gym to wait for their children. Many looked stricken, wiping away tears and hugging each other. Some were drenched in rain after parking blocks away, filling up a nearby church parking lot, and running to the center. A man moved through the crowd passing out water bottles as the packed gym grew stifling, parents filling the gym floor and the upper level. Hundreds of parents crowd the Northridge Recreation Center in Highlands Ranch, where students from STEM School Highlands Ranch were bused after a shooting. (Jennifer Brown, The Colorado Sun) Sheriff’s officers used a megaphone to yell out students’ names, telling parents to raise their hands if their child’s name was called. As school buses filled with students streamed in, dropping off students at a bubble-roofed tennis court, the officers began calling out grade levels, working their way up from kindergarten. Parents were reunited with their kids in various rec center rooms — a weight room, a karate studio. Rocio and Daniel Dixon, parents of a kindergartener and a second-grader, were rattled, tears in their eyes, as they waited in the rec center to find their children. Earlier, Rocio pulled off the side of the road near the school and went running toward it. An officer shouted at her to stop, and she did, fearing he would tackle her. The Dixons’ children don’t have phones, so they hadn’t heard from them. “They are getting phones tomorrow,” Rocio Dixon said. “The worst part is not being able to communicate with them,” Daniel Dixon said. Becky Harsh, mother of sophomore and junior boys, heard from her sons on a group text at 2:01 p.m. “We’re in a lockout,” texted one. Then another text a few moments later: “This is not a drill.” Harsh told them both to stay calm, be smart. “Deep breaths,” she texted. “Do what you are told. If I text you and you can answer, please do.” Two hours later, she sat leaned against the wall in the gym, knowing her boys were safe, but in shock that a school shooting happened in her community. “It’s one of those surreal things,” she said. “You read about it all the time. You see it all the time.” Harsh’s husband was on a flight, not seeing all of the texts. When they’re all home in a few hours, Harsh said, they will talk about whatever her boys want to talk about. “We are going to open the doors for whatever they are feeling, and just feel all the feels,” she said.<doc-sep>
Send this page to someone via email One student has died and seven have been injured following a shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school with students in every grade between kindergarten and Grade 12 that’s located near Denver, reports said Tuesday. There are two people in custody – one adult, one juvenile. The adult suspect was identified as 18-year-old Devon Erickson, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department tweeted on Tuesday night. #stemshooting Adult suspect has been identified as Devon Erickson, age 18. We will not be releasing any photos at this time as it could jeopardize this critical on-going invest. We still have interviews to conduct and we want to make sure we have the most accurate information — DC Sheriff (@dcsheriff) May 8, 2019 Story continues below advertisement Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said earlier that the suspects engaged students in two locations, and a number of students were subsequently shot and injured. The school notified police about the incident “almost immediately” after the first shots were fired, he said. WATCH: At least 7 injured in shooting at school in Colorado, 2 suspects in custody 7:02 At least 7 injured in shooting at school in Colorado, 2 suspects in custody At least 7 injured in shooting at school in Colorado, 2 suspects in custody – May 7, 2019 Several victims are in critical condition and police are working to unify family members with the students. READ MORE: Columbine school shooting – family, friends pay tribute to victims on 20th anniversary Most victims are believed to have been reunited with their families but police know of one other student who hasn’t been yet. Story continues below advertisement The suspects were not injured in the shooting. “We are going to do everything to investigate this to determine what happened,” Spurlock said. Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We are going to do everything to investigate this to determine what happened," Spurlock said. It’s not clear whether anyone in particular at the school was targeted. Police are investigating whether there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspects and sheriff’s deputies. All of the shooting victims are aged 15 and up, but Spurlock had no more information to identify them. Some victims have gone into surgery, while others are in stable condition at other hospitals. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the shooting at around 4:15 p.m. ET. STEM school incident: still getting info, believe 2 injured. Please find other routes. Media staging now on south side of AMC! — DC Sheriff (@dcsheriff) May 7, 2019 The sheriff’s office subsequently told parents to go to the Northridge Rec Center to pick up their children. Police initially said there were seven confirmed injuries, possibly eight. WATCH: Police in Colorado say multiple students injured, 2 shooters in custody 3:27 Police in Colorado say multiple students injured, 2 shooters in custody Police in Colorado say multiple students injured, 2 shooters in custody – May 7, 2019 The FBI’s crime scene unit will handle what happened in the school’s interior during the shooting. Story continues below advertisement Members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are also assisting. #BREAKING UPDATE: Littleton Adventist Hospital confirmed they have victims from the #stemshooting in Highlands Ranch. SkyRidge also says they have two victims in stable condition. https://t.co/zaLM5QID4H — CBSDenver (@CBSDenver) May 7, 2019 CBS Denver reported that Littleton Adventist hospital had victims from the shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch. Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree, Co., meanwhile, had two victims in stable condition, the network added. READ MORE: Alberta remembers Taber school shooting 20 years later Children’s Hospital Colorado, which is located in Aurora, is treating another patient who was hurt in the shooting, KDVR reported. One student told KUSA-TV he was left “a bit shaky” and “scared” following the shooting, but he was “glad I didn’t get hurt.” With files from Reuters