Sheriff Spurlock said neither suspect had been on law enforcement’s radar before the shooting and that the motive was unknown. The sheriff said the injured students were age 15 or older. Students who were not injured were taken to Northridge Recreation Center in Highlands Ranch, where hundreds of anxious parents gathered to look for their children on Tuesday afternoon. “I heard a gunshot,” said Makai Dixon, 8, a second grader who had been training for this moment, with active shooter drills and lockdowns, since he was in kindergarten. “I’d never heard it before.” Makai’s parents said they joined thousands of others in rushing to the school as news blazed through this suburban community. “We’re more messed up than they are,” Makai’s mother, Rocio, said as they walked to their car. The shooting at the Highlands Ranch charter school is the latest at an educational institution, rattling communities nationwide because young people have been put in mortal danger in places long considered safe havens. One week earlier, a man with a pistol shot six people on the last day of spring classes at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, killing two.<doc-sep>According to CBS News, the parent mentioned the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School, one of the most notorious such attacks in the US, which left 13 dead just 8km (5 miles) from Tuesday's assault.<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. Where people were once advised to flee or shelter in place, the new mantra for surviving an active shooter situation is “run, hide, fight.” The moment they learned about their son’s sacrifice Shortly after the shooting, Castillo and his wife Maria were frantically trying to reach Kendrick on his cell phone. They initially thought their son might have been injured, but grew more concerned when he would not pick up their texts and calls. “I was a little bit guilty, because as I was trying to call him, I thought, well, maybe this is the wrong thing? Maybe I am putting his life in jeopardy by having the phone ring,” Castillo said. “My anxiety and the lump in my chest was growing.” One of Kendrick’s friends sent Castillo a text saying Kendrick had rushed toward the shooter, but at the time, he didn’t know what to think about it. They watched as other students exited the yellow school buses and reunited with their parents, “and we didn’t have that,” Castillo said. “I couldn’t believe this was happening to my son,” Castillo said. The couple learned Kendrick was killed when they went to the hospital looking for him and officials told them his body was still inside the classroom. As they waited to see their son, students would come up to them calling their son a hero. As Castillo and his wife mourn their son, he said they wish for Kendrick’s classmates to heal, go to college, get married and start their own families surrounded by love. CNN’s Amanda Watts contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
(The story corrected source in paragraph 11 of May 8 story.) People hold up the phone lights during a moment of silence at a vigil for the victims of the shooting at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, U.S., May 8, 2019 as U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) speaks. REUTERS/Rick Wilking (Reuters) - Kendrick Ray Castillo, the 18-year-old who sacrificed his life to save other students during a shooting in a suburban Denver high school, loved robotics, helping the elderly in his community and making people laugh, his friend told Reuters. Cece Bedard, who knew Castillo since elementary school, said she broke down in tears when she heard her friend had died but was not surprised at his selfless act. “There is no doubt in my mind that he would have done anything he thought he could have to help anyone,” Bedard said on Wednesday. Two teenagers are accused of opening fire on fellow students on Tuesday at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) School in Highlands Ranch, about 25 miles (40 km) south of Denver, killing Castillo and wounding eight other students. Witnesses said Castillo, who was due to graduate in three days, charged at one of the shooters. “Kendrick lunged at him,” senior Nui Giasolli told NBC News, referring to the older of the two shooting suspects, Devon Erickson, 18, who was being held on Wednesday on murder and attempted murder charges. “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,” Giasolli said. Fellow student, Brendan Bialy, a U.S. Marine recruit who also charged the shooter with a third student, described Castillo as an unstoppable bowling ball. “Basically when he gets moving there’s no stopping him,” Bialy said in an interview with multiple media outlets, including Denver’s Fox News affiliate, late on Wednesday. Bialy said his friend showed no hesitation. Bedard said she and Castillo both volunteered with their fathers at the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s community service organization, when they were in middle school. Castillo loved tagging along with his father to volunteer with the Knights of Columbus, whether it involved carrying heavy crates of fruit for a peach drive or setting up senior lunches. He was especially good at connecting with the elderly people he served, Bedard said. “He was always there earlier than I was and was always there later than I was,” she said. His friends remembered Castillo as a goofy jokester, although his humor was never at anyone’s expense, Bedard said. He had a strong sense of self and did not care what other people thought of him, a trait that made him stand out among his peers. Castillo was also a member of a regional robotics team, another community that was mourning his loss on Wednesday. “We’re heartbroken by the death of Kendrick Castillo ... Kendrick was a member of @Frc4418, of which his father is Lead Mentor,” FIRST, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing youth in STEM, said on Twitter. Bialy said Castillo was not a victim but someone who jumped into action. “I love that kid,” Bialy said. “He died a trooper. He got his ticket to Valhalla, and I know he will be with me for the rest of my life.”