Last week, there was an evidentiary hearing to determine if 19-year-old Devon Erickson should be held over for trial in the STEM School Highlands Ranch school shooting that left 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo dead. During the hearing, it was put forth by the prosecution that Erickson was forced into the plot by 16-year-old Alec McKinney.
Besides the fact that bullet casings from Erickson’s gun were found at the scene, allow me to refresh your memory about what kind of person Erickson is…
He would enter the classroom and say, “when the pencil hits the floor I’m going to start shooting.” Then, he would spend the rest of class sporadically dropping pencils, Kevin Cole said of the suspect.
And sometimes, the “jokes” were more like threats.
“He would just get really close and kind of hunch himself over your shoulder as you were sitting down, and he would just whisper in your ear ‘don’t come to school tomorrow’ and just kind of crack a smile and walk back to his seat,” Cole said.
It doesn’t sound like Erickson needed much coaxing to commit murder.
Unsurprisingly, the judge probably saw through this ploy and ordered that Erickson be held over for trial.
Both suspects are currently being held without bond on over 40 charges, including murder and attempted murder.