DENVER � A former high school student convicted of first degree murder and
other charges for a 2019 shooting attack inside a suburban Denver high
school that killed one student and injured eight others is set to be
sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole on Friday.

Devon Erickson was convicted in June of all 46 charges against him,
including murder in the death of Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old senior
hailed as a hero for trying to stop the attack on a classroom at STEM
School Highlands Ranch south of Denver. Eight other students were injured.

Prosecutors said Erickson, now 20, partnered with fellow student Alec
McKinney in the May 7, 2019, shooting. Since Erickson was 18 and an adult
at the time of the shooting, he faces a mandatory life sentence.

McKinney, who was 16 and a juvenile at the time of the shooting, was
sentenced to life last year but could become eligible for parole after
about 20 years in prison under a program for juvenile offenders.

Friday's sentencing hearing allows victims and their families to tell the
court about what they've suffered in the continuing aftermath of the
attack.

Erickson and McKinney targeted a classroom of high school students who
were sitting in the dark, watching a movie at the end of their senior
year. The two entered through separate doors to maximize the number of
students they could kill, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that Erickson and McKinney concocted a "victim-hero" plan
in which McKinney would either kill himself or be killed by Erickson.

The shootings stopped when Castillo and two other students, Joshua Jones
and Brendan Bialy, charged Erickson, whose gun jammed after he fired four
times. McKinney was apprehended by a school security guard.

Defense attorneys argued that Erickson was pressured into participating by
McKinney, who testified against Erickson after pleading guilty last year.
The defense also suggested that Castillo was accidentally shot as he
pushed Erickson against a wall.

Despite the mandatory life term for Erickson, prosecutors asked that a
report be prepared that recommends the sentence and summarizes the
evidence presented at trial. That information could help deter a future
governor who might possibly consider clemency for Erickson, according to
District Attorney John Kellner.

After the shooting, McKinney told investigators that he planned the attack
for weeks and intended to target classmates who repeatedly mocked him
because he was transgender, according to court documents.

At his sentencing hearing last year, McKinney said he did not want
leniency and urged anyone planning a school shooting to get help. But he
also suggested the shooting was Erickson's idea.

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/17/1038339826/denver-colorado-school-shooting-
life-sentence-devon-erickson