School shooter set to get life in prison

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

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 near Denver.

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, was sentenced to life last year but could become eligible for parole after about 20 years in prison under a program for juvenile offenders.

The sentencing hearing allows victims and their families to tell the court about what they’ve suffered.

Erickson and McKinney targeted a classroom of 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.