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By Catherine Salgado

On May 7, a shooting occurred at a Colorado high school, just miles from Columbine, leaving one student dead and eight more injured. Many more would have died had it not been for the courage of Kendrick Castillo, who lept up to defend classmates, ending up riddled with bullets and dying from his injuries. Aside from a handful of reports, the shooting has garnered little coverage from mainstream media, in spite of such heroism.

Why was the story largely ignored? Because the shooters, Devon Erickson and Maya McKinney, were pro-LGBT leftist activists.

Why was the story largely ignored? Because the shooters, Devon Erickson and Maya McKinney, were pro-LGBT leftist activists.

When one of the shooters, teenaged student Erickson, entered the classroom with a handgun, Castillo, along with Brendan Bialy and Joshua Jones, ran at the shooter without a second's thought for their own safety. The young men rushed the gunman, slammed him against the wall and began to wrestle with him. Shots were fired before Bialy managed to wrestle the gun away. Castillo fell to the ground dead.

Bendrick Bialy & Joshua Jones

Castillo died a hero's death, sacrificing himself to prevent a greater death toll among his classmates. Bialy, who plans to join the U.S. Marine Corps, and Jones also exhibited exceptional heroism. In a world where men are discouraged from being manly and pro-death political activists talk and act as if individual lives mean nothing, these three young men performed a manly, courageous deed in defense of the lives of their classmates. Such actions provide a shining example to other young people — particularly young men — on how to behave in the face of danger.

The mainstream media, however, dropped the story, as more and more information about the shooters emerged, the tragic event not tying in with any of the narratives the Radical Left likes to spin.





Erickson is a registered Democrat who has used his social media posts to praise Barack Obama, criticize Donald Trump, express support for the LGBT agenda and spread vitriol against Christians. The other suspect accused in the shooting, Maya McKinney, is a transgender who is "transitioning" into a boy named Alec.

Castillo's parents

Not only that, McKinney's father, Jose Evis Quintana, is an illegal immigrant who has been twice deported from the United States and arrested a number of times, besides spending 15 months in jail for abusing McKinney's mother, Morgan McKinney. According to friends, both Erickson and McKinney are struggling with mental health issues.

It becomes clear why the mainstream media lost interest in the story. One of the shooters is a Democrat Obama supporter, and the other is transgender. McKinney's status as the daughter of an illegal immigrant who is a felon calls attention to the border crisis and the high rate of crime among immigrants — a fact the Left would like to ignore. The political opinions and LGBT ambitions of the shooters align perfectly with the Left, and the media — while condemning the killing — could not bring itself to give the shooting the same wall-to-wall coverage it did for tragedies like Sandy Hook, Columbine or other school shootings.





Some Democrats, like Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, tried using the incident to call for more gun control, but the negative press resulting from the shooting far outweighed its use to liberals to further the cause of gun control. In response, conservative sites should follow the example of Breitbart News and other news outfits and cover this story. It ought to be covered not because it advances a specific political agenda, or simply because it bothers liberals, but because three young heroes are in need of wider recognition, and because journalism ought to include writing on and publishing every important story, whether it contradicts one's opinions or affirms them. Facts matter, and lives matter.

Sacrificial heroism is truly the American Way.

While journalists have been ignoring the story, the Denver Broncos have announced they will be hosting graduations for the STEM School Highlands Ranch students in recognition of their bravery and heroic example. If a sports team is making a point of celebrating these young men, that's another reason why journalists should be doing the same. Castillo died saving lives, and recognizing his heroism — and that of his friends — on a national scale is important and even necessary. It reminds us that saving lives is worth the ultimate sacrifice, and that such sacrificial heroism is truly the American Way.

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