The Latest: School security guard detained 1 suspect

By Associated Press 09 May 2019, 12:00AM

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (AP) — The Latest on the school shooting in Colorado (all times local):

10:20 a.m.

The armed security guard who apprehended one of two students accused in the suburban Denver school shooting was employed by a security company started by a SWAT team leader who responded to the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.

The company's owner, Grant Whitus, told The Associated Press the security guard is a former Marine who was on duty inside the STEM School Highlands Ranch when the emergency call went out on Tuesday.

He declined to identify the guard but said the guard ran to the area of the shootings and confronted one of the armed students in a hallway. He says the guard drew his weapon and apprehended the person.

Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock previously said that he believed one of the suspects was detained by the school's security guard.

Whitus says he doesn't know if the guard fired his weapon, but that the student suspect wasn't wounded.

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10:15 a.m.

The student killed in the Colorado high school shooting was fascinated by engineering and eager to help others.

That's according to the chief executive officer of the manufacturing business where 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo worked part-time for the past 18 months.

Classmates say Castillo died after lunging at two gunmen who opened fire in a suburban Denver high school.

Castillo's father, John, told television station KMGH that his son was a hero.

Rachel Short of Bacara USA says Kendrick Castillo started working at her company last year as an intern. She said he was such a terrific employee they offered him a part-time job.

Short said Castillo was funny and empathetic and loved helping people.

Short said: "To find he went down as a hero, I'm not surprised, that's exactly who Kendrick was."

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10:10 a.m.

The White House says Ivanka Trump has canceled a planned trip to the Denver area in the wake of a school shooting that left one student dead and eight wounded.

She had planned to visit Lockheed Martin's space facility in the south Denver suburb of Littleton Wednesday. The plant is about seven miles (11 kilometers) southwest of the STEM School, where the shooting happened on Tuesday.

The White House said the president's daughter and adviser did not want to divert resources or attention from the shooting.

Separately, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the Trump administration would do everything it can to find ways to safeguard schools.

She said: "I'm a parent myself. The president is a parent and grandparent."

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10:05 a.m.

The prosecutor overseeing the case against two suspects in a fatal Colorado school shooting says the community remains resilient in the face of multiple shootings in the area over the last 20 years.

Douglas County District Attorney George Brauchler noted Wednesday that the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting was the fifth within a 20-mile (32-kilometer) radius in the past two decades, starting with the 1999 Columbine massacre.

He says those shootings may shape how people across the nation view the Denver metropolitan area, but they are aberrant acts that don't define his home.

He says the community is comprised of kind, compassionate people who are going to mourn, take care of those who are down and pick themselves back up.

Brauchler cited Columbine, the 2012 theater shooting in the Denver suburb of Aurora, a 2013 shooting at Arapahoe High School and last year's fatal shooting of a Douglas County sheriff's deputy.

9:30 a.m.

The father of the student killed in a Colorado school shooting says his son was a hero and he wants people to know about him.

John Castillo told television station KMGH that 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo was shot and killed after two students opened fire Tuesday in STEM School Highlands Ranch south of Denver.

Student Nui Giasolli told NBC's "Today" show that she was in her British Literature class when one of the suspects entered and pulled out a gun.

Giasolli said Kendrick Castillo lunged at the gunman, who 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.

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9 a.m.

One of the two suspects in a fatal Colorado school shooting is scheduled to appear in court.

Douglas County District Attorney George Brauchler says 18-year-old Devon Erickson will make an initial appearance at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

A court hearing had not yet been set for the second suspect, a juvenile, as of early Wednesday morning.

Authorities say they shot nine fellow students, one fatally, before they were taken in custody.

The suspects are students at STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school south of Denver just a few miles from the site of the 1999 Columbine school shooting.

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6:45 a.m.

Authorities say the two students accused of killing a classmate in a shooting at a school in suburban Denver used at least two handguns in the attack.

Douglas County Tony Spurlock said the suspects had a "number of weapons" in Tuesday's shooting but he would not release details. However, he said they included two handguns which he said they were not old enough to buy or own.

Eight other students were wounded in the shooting at the STEM School Highlands Ranch. Spurlock said three were intensive care.

Authorities on Tuesday identified the juvenile suspect as a boy but Spurlock on Wednesday told reporters that the juvenile suspect is a girl.

He says "we originally thought the juvenile was a male by appearance."

Spurlock declined comment when asked by reporters if the juvenile suspect is transgender.

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.

By Associated Press 09 May 2019, 12:00AM

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