Kendrick lunged at the gunman, "giving us all enough time to get underneath our desks to get ourselves safe, to run across the room to escape", she said.<doc-sep>A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave on March 31, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community members continue preparations during the third day in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing July 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Giuliani did an on-camera interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion before talking to other journalists about Vice President Joe Biden and the news that Russian intelligence may have paid Taliban operatives to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Former President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Here's what reported grand jury in Trump case may look like NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 09: People walk past the Trump Tower as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in Washington on February 09, 2021 in New York City. After listening to nearly four hours of legal arguments, the Senate has voted on Tuesday to move ahead with the impeachment trial of former President Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the conflict in the Middle East from Cross- Hall of the White House on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas announced that they would agree to a cease-fire, which will take into effect on Friday, following days of fighting that claimed more than 200 lives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - MAY 26: A view of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light-rail yard where a mass shooting occurred on May 26, 2021 in San Jose, California. A VTA employee opened fire at the yard, with preliminary reports indicating nine people dead including the gunman. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images) A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020. - Ontario, Canada's most populous province and one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, had 1,940 new cases and 23 deaths on Monday. The province is expected to give its next doses to nursing home workers as a priority, according to media reports. (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 'Never seen levels like this': Union president on airline passenger misconduct Memorial Day weekend will bring rain and cool air for much of the East (CNN) — After a classmate pulled out a gun in class, Kendrick Castillo couldn’t just stay still. He was surrounded by the friends he considered family and they were all in danger. Kendrick died when he lunged at the shooter, giving other students at STEM School Highlands Ranch enough time to hide, his family and a classmate said. “I know that because of what he did, others are alive, and I thank God for that. I love him. And he is a hero and he always will be,” his dad, John Castillo, said. “He just loved people that much.” courtesy John and Maria Castillo The 18-year-old was watching “The Princess Bride” in his British literature class when the shooter pulled out a gun, demanding that nobody moved. After Kendrick lunged at the shooter, three other students also tackled the gunman and tried to subdue him while the rest of the class fled the room. Kendrick was an only child, but his friends, including the members of the school’s robotics team, were like his siblings, his father said. They would host holiday gift exchanges at his home, shared his toys as a child and would pay for a friend’s movie tickets if someone didn’t have money. “Be selfless, that’s what my son was, and it got him killed, but he saved others,” Castillo said. ’He was extraordinary’ Kendrick grew up speaking English and Spanish in suburban Denver and first attended Catholic school. He would also spend time fishing and camping with his late grandfather – who had been in the Marines. “Kendrick was proud of him, proud that his grandfather was a hero,” Castillo said. “Part of me knows that Kendrick wanted to live that legacy.” courtesy John and Maria Castillo The teenager had kept the flag that once draped his grandfather’s casket close to him and would pray and kiss his tombstone at Fort Logan National Cemetery. “He loved the patriotism,” Castillo said. “We are Hispanic by nature but we love America to the core.” Castillo and his wife Maria were not surprised to learn that their son ran toward danger. They raised him to be responsible and “to be good.” “This wasn’t your average kid,” Castillo said. “He was extraordinary.” He refused to be a victim Kendrick was about a foot away from the shooter and he immediately sprang into action, said Brendan Bialy, one of other students who jumped the gunman. “Kendrick Castillo died a legend. He died a trooper,” Bialy said. “I know he will be with me for the rest of my life.” After Bialy was able to move the gun away from the shooter, he checked on Kendrick and tried to get him to talk, but he wasn’t moving. He recalls helping a teacher who came into the room and tried to render medical aid. Other students had tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to Kendrick’s chest, Brendan’s father told The New York Times. “I refused to be a victim. Kendrick refused to be a victim. The other students refused to be a victim,” he said. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, according to experts.<doc-sep>Ms. Giasolli said the seniors stayed close to one another on Tuesday afternoon as SWAT teams cleared their school and then took them to a recreation center, where thousands of anxious parents waited to reunite with them. They hugged one another and broke down sobbing in groups as they learned that Mr. Castillo, also a senior, had died. Ms. Giasolli said the tight-knit class was now bonded by grief and shock. “We’re all shaken,” she said. “It happened right before our eyes. It happened right in our classroom. We’re all hurting. We all did know these kids. We did know the shooter. We did know the people who got hurt. We’re all hurting in our own ways.” The suspects carried at least two handguns, and at least one of them had been restrained by a school security officer by the time law enforcement arrived, Sheriff Tony Spurlock of Douglas County said. Sheriff Spurlock said deputies had to force their way into the school because it was locked down. Law enforcement happened to choose a door that was near the shooting scene and quickly apprehended one of the suspects, who was identified as Devon Erickson, 18. The contrast between the tributes to Mr. Castillo, who was hailed as a hero by his friends, his community and Colorado’s governor, and the first court appearance of the two suspects could hardly have been starker. Mr. Erickson entered court on Wednesday wearing a red jumpsuit draped over his thin frame. His hair, dyed pink and blue, hung over his face. He sat between his lawyers with his head hanging, and he was shackled at both the wrists and the ankles. At times his body shook ever so slightly.<doc-sep>The 18-year-old student killed in a Colorado school shooting died a hero days before he was to graduate high school, his father and classmates said. Kendrick Castillo, 18, was the sole person killed in the shooting on Tuesday at Stem School Highlands Ranch, a K-12 school outside Denver. Castillo lunged at a fellow student who pulled a gun, survivor Nui Giasolli told NBC’s Today Show. “Kendrick lunged at him, and he shot Kendrick,” Giasolli said, “giving all of us enough time to get underneath our desks, to get ourselves safe and to run across the room to escape.” Other students helped Castillo tackle the gunman, Giasolli said, adding they “were brave enough to bring him down so that all of us could escape and all of us could be reunited with our families”. “I can’t thank them enough,” she said. Suspects appear in court One of the shooting suspects, Devon Erickson, made his first court appearance on Wednesday, bowing his head during much of the proceedings as his hair covered his eyes. The 18-year-old was shackled at the waist with his hands cuffed as he sat in a courtroom flanked by two defense lawyers. Erickson nodded frequently in answering the judge’s questions but at one point the judge requested a verbal answer to whether he had any questions about the proceedings. Erickson simply replied: “No.” He is scheduled to return to court on Friday, when charges are expected to be filed. Erickson is one of the two suspects accused of opening fire at the school. The other suspect, a juvenile, was appeared before the judge afterwards. Prosecutors identified the second suspect as 16-year-old Maya McKinney. McKinney uses male pronouns and the name Alec, an attorney said. McKinney made eye contact with the judge and answered questions in a clear but quiet voice, saying “Yes, your honor” and “No, your honor”. The district attorney George Brauchler said he had not decided whether to file adult charges but added that McKinney was old enough to be charged as an adult without a judge’s review. ‘The best kid in the world’ The victim was described as an avid member of his school’s robotics team who liked fishing, hunting and cars. He had just three days of school left before graduation. “He was the best kid in the world,” John Castillo told the Denver Post, speaking through tears. “It doesn’t surprise me,” Castillo told the paper about reports of his son’s heroism. “He cared enough about people that he would do something like that, even though it’s against my better judgment. “I wish he had gone and hid,” Castillo said, “but that’s not his character. His character is about protecting people, helping people.” Kendrick, his parents’ only child, was due to enroll in Arapahoe Community College in the fall and hoped to study engineering, his father said. “My wife and I are in a haze,” Castillo said. “He was everything to us.”<doc-sep>
Castillo, 18, was a four-year member of the robotics team and would have finished his senior year in three days. Facebook Kendrick Castillo The student who died in the shooting at a Colorado charter school on Tuesday was an 18-year-old senior who was due to finish school in just three days, authorities said. Kendrick Castillo was the sole student to die after the shooting at STEM School in Highlands Ranch, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock told reporters Wednesday. Eight others were injured. A classmate who witnessed the attack told NBC's Today show that Castillo "lunged" at one of the shooters to save others. Team STEM Impulse / Via frc4418.weebly.com Nui Giasolli described the shooting that happened inside her British literature class — and how Castillo lost his life protecting his fellow students. "The next thing I know is [the shooter] is pulling a gun and he’s telling nobody to move, and that’s when Kendrick lunged at him," Giasolli said on Today. "And he shot Kendrick, giving all of us enough time to get underneath our desks, to get ourselves safe, and to run across the room to escape." On Twitter, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis shared a local news story citing Giasolli's comments to Today. "Colorado will always remember the heroism of Kendrick Castillo," he wrote. At the Wednesday press conference, Sheriff Spurlock didn't name the students who reportedly tackled the shooters, but said "we are going to hear about very heroic things that have taken place at the school." "I suspect as the detectives get further interviews from them, we’re going to find that there were much more heroic things," Spurlock said. Castillo was an award-winning, four-year member of the school's robotics team. He had already held multiple technology internships, according to his LinkedIn page. On social media, people mourned the loss of Castillo and called him a hero. This is Kendrick Castillo. Today during the shooting at STEM Highlands Ranch, he tackled one of the shooters and was shot. He went to the hospital where he tragically passed away. He saved the lives of many other students. He deserves to be remembered as a hero. Know his name. This is 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo. He was the young man killed in the #STEMshooting yesterday. We’re told he was passionate about technology, on the school’s robotics team, and set to graduate in just 3 days. Sending his family so much love during this time. 🙏🏽 @CBSDenver In the Today interview, Giasolli also thanked "Brendan Bialy, Jackson Gregory, and Lucas Albertoni [for being] some of the kids that were brave enough to bring [the shooter] down so that all of us could escape and all of us could be reunited with our families." "They were very heroic," she said. "I can’t thank them enough." Bialy, whose father told NBC he's planning to become a Marine, reportedly helped to tackle one of the shooters. He was not shot but is "still in shock and primarily concerned with the victims and their families," according to a statement from the family's attorney that was shared with 9News. Brendan Bialy and other students rushed at the gunman at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado. One of the students was shot in the chest. Police say one student died and 7 others were wounded. Two suspects are in custody: https://t.co/LNasaZ02zM #STEMSchoolShooting