Kendrick Castillo, 18, was the sole person killed at Stem School Highlands Ranch days before he was to graduate high school

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

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.

Denver: one student killed and seven injured in shooting at school Read more

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.”