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>HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. -- When a gunman burst into his high school classroom, Kendrick Castillo did not hesitate. The 18-year-old immediately charged, pinning the attacker to the wall before Castillo was fatally shot protecting classmates, witnesses said. As he charged, so did two other students. One of them, Brendan Bialy, wrestled the gun from the shooter's hand and the students subdued him. A second shooter was captured by an armed security guard. Authorities said these acts of bravery helped minimize the bloodshed from Tuesday's attack, which also wounded eight people. "We're going to hear about very heroic things that have taken place at the school," Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said Wednesday. The attackers were identified by law enforcement officials as 18-year-old Devon Erickson and a 16-year-old who prosecutors identified as Maya McKinney but whose attorney said uses male pronouns and the name Alec. The two allegedly walked into the STEM School Highlands Ranch through an entrance without metal detectors and opened fire in two classrooms. Because the attack happened only miles from Columbine High School and just weeks after the shooting's 20th anniversary, questions quickly arose about whether it was inspired by the 1999 massacre. But investigators offered no immediate motive. Castillo sprang into action against the shooter "and immediately was on top of him with complete disregard for his own safety," said Bialy, a close friend of Castillo's who has signed up to join the Marines. A member of the school's robotics club and a relentless tinkerer, Castillo had an infectious smile and gentle sense of humour, according to friends. He worked part-time at a local manufacturing company that had offered him a job after an internship because he was such a standout employee. "To find he went down as a hero, I'm not surprised. That's exactly who Kendrick was," said Rachel Short, president of the company, Baccara. Cecilia Bedard, 19, had known Castillo since elementary school and said he was always friendly, modest and excited to help people. He made a point of always joining his father at Knights of Columbus fundraisers and bingo nights. "He was amazing," Bedard said. "He was honestly the sweetest kid I ever met. Never said a mean joke." Bialy smiled as he recounted the struggle with the shooter to reporters, saying that he wanted to focus on the positive. "They completely and utterly failed in a matter of half a minute," he said of the attackers. "What I saw yesterday was the absolute best of people," he added. Bialy would not identify the third student who helped subdue the gunman, but the family of Joshua Jones put out a statement saying he was shot twice while disarming one of the attackers. The security guard who detained the second armed suspect was employed by Boss High Level Protection, a company started by a former SWAT team leader who responded to the Columbine shooting. The owner, Grant Whitus, told The Associated Press the security guard is a former Marine who ran to the area of the shootings and confronted one of the armed students in a hallway. The guard drew his weapon and apprehended the person, Whitus said. "He doesn't even realize how many lives he saved by stopping a school shooting," Whitus said. About 2,000 people held a vigil at a nearby high school Wednesday night to honour the victims and survivors of the attack. Both suspects were students at the school, and they were not previously known to authorities, Spurlock said. Erickson made his first court appearance Wednesday and kept his head down. His black hair, streaked with purple dye, covered his face as he nodded in response to most of District Court Judge Theresa Slade's questions. At one point, the judge requested a verbal answer to whether he had any questions about the proceedings. Erickson simply replied "No." McKinney, who has a short brown haircut, made eye contact with the judge and answered questions in a clear but quiet voice, saying "Yes, your honour" and "No, your honour." District attorney George Brauchler said he has not decided whether to file adult charges but added that McKinney is old enough to be charged as an adult without a judge's review. Formal charges were expected to be filed by Friday. Brauchler said he could not discuss any motive or weapons used in the attack. A message left at a phone number listed for Erickson's home was not immediately returned. Josh Dutton, 18, said he was close friends with Erickson in middle school but had not seen him for four years while attending 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 and was significantly thinner and did not seem interested in talking. "He said he'd just turned 18 and he owned rifles," Dutton said. The shooting took place exactly a week after a gunman killed two students and wounded four at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. In that case as well, one of the fatalities was a student who charged the attacker. The Colorado attack unfolded came nearly three weeks after neighbouring Littleton marked the anniversary of the Columbine attack that killed 13 people. The two schools are separated by about 7 miles (11 kilometres) in adjacent communities south of Denver. Brauchler said the community remains resilient in the face of multiple shootings, including Columbine, the 2012 theatre shooting in the Denver suburb of Aurora and the 2013 shooting at Arapahoe High School. The attacks are "aberrant acts" although they might seem otherwise to the rest of the world, he said. "Who we are is a kind, compassionate, caring people, and this does not define us." ------ Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Dan Elliott and Colleen Slevin in Denver and AP researchers Monika Mathur in Washington and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.<doc-sep>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>The moment resonated on social media after one student was killed and eight others were injured in a shooting Tuesday at STEM School in Highlands Ranch, Colo. People across the country expressed horror that a child still young enough to think of his age in half-years was calmly explaining how he had prepared to fight for his life while hiding in a classroom closet. How on earth, people asked on social media, did we get here?<doc-sep>
The 18-year-old student killed in a shooting at a suburban Denver school was a high school senior days away from graduating, police said, as one of his classmates recalled how the teen tried to stop one of the shooters in the attack that cost him his life and left eight others wounded. The young man who was slain has been identified as Kendrick Ray Castillo, a robotics enthusiast, the Douglas County sheriff's office said on Twitter. Sheriff Tony Spurlock told a morning news conference the reason for the attack at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) School in Highlands Ranch remained unclear. Two suspects, both students, were taken into custody — Devon Erickson, 18, and a juvenile. Erickson made his first court appearance on Wednesday. He kept his head bowed during much of the proceedings — his dark hair, streaked with purple, covering his eyes as he nodded for most of the judge's questions. Student Nui Giasolli told NBC's Today show that she was in her British literature class when one of the shooters entered and pulled out a gun. Students hailed as heroes Giasolli said Castillo lunged at the gunman, who then shot the teen. Giasolli says Castillo's actions gave the rest of the class time to get underneath their desks and then run across the room to escape to safety. John Castillo, the teen's father, said his son was a hero and he wants people to know about him. Another student hailed as a hero is Brendan Bialy, 17, who has been preparing to join the marines. The marines said on Wednesday that Bialy put his own safety at risk and showed "courage and commitment" in helping to tackle one of the shooters. Marine Capt. Michael Maggiti said the teen was not injured. Michael Schwart, a former student of the school told CBS he spoke to friends from the STEM school who told him "a "couple" of students were "able to pin [the shooter] to the ground." A security guard who was on duty at the school drew his weapon and apprehended a second suspect in the hallway, according to his company's owner, Grant Whitus. Suspect identifies as female Denver's ABC television affiliate, citing an unidentified police source, reported on Tuesday that one of the suspects wanted to transition to male from female and had been bullied for it. Spurlock said one of the suspected shooters previously identified as male was actually a female under the age of 18. Spurlock declined to answer a reporter's question about whether the younger suspect was transgender. That suspect has not been publicly identified and is being charged as a juvenile, authorities said. "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." Parents pick up their children after a shooting at the STEM School in Highlands Ranch, Colo., on Tuesday. (Chet Strange/AFP/Getty Images) Spurlock said the suspect had been identified as male "before the detectives were able to get the medical — and detectives were able to speak to her." KMGH-TV reported late Tuesday that the juvenile suspect is a transgender male in the process of transitioning from female to male. The television station cited anonymous sources close to the investigation. The two attackers opened fire in two separate classrooms and were arrested within minutes at the public charter school about 40 kilometres south of Denver, Spurlock said. Police officers stand watch at the scene of the shooting in which one student was killed and eight wounded. (Tom Cooper/Getty Images) "A student's life was taken too soon by this act of violence," Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said at a news conference. "I share the heartbreak, the frustration, the sickness." Some of the worst mass shootings in the United States have occurred in Colorado. Douglas County Coroner Jill Roman has identified the deceased victim of the STEM School shooting as Kendrick Ray Castillo, 03/14/2001. We ask that the media please respect the family's privacy at this time. #STEMshooting —@dcsheriff The attack occurred less than a month after the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in nearby Littleton, about eight kilometres from the Highlands Ranch school. In 2012, a man opened fire at a movie theatre in Aurora, another Denver suburb, killing 12 people and wounding scores more.