STEM School shooting suspect appears in court; affidavit remains hidden

STEM School shooting suspect appears in court; affidavit explaining case evidence remains hidden from public

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Dozens of parents, teachers and students packed a courtroom Friday morning for a brief hearing for one of the suspects in the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting.

Douglas County District Court Judge Theresa Slade scheduled a preliminary hearing for the suspect, 18-year-old Devon Erickson, for September. In the meantime, Erickson’s attorneys will have to decipher the thousands of pages of evidence and hours of video the prosecution has given them.

Slade did not address the suppression of the case file, which has remained hidden from the public since two students at the school were arrested in connection with the shooting.

Slade will rule on the suppression in the near future, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler told reporters after the hearing. He didn’t have an estimate when that could happen.

“There are some other things the court needs to rule on before it can take up that issue,” he said.

Brauchler said he supported releasing the file and the affidavit. Authorities have yet to disclose much information about what happened inside the Douglas County charter school during the shooting, including how the suspects acquired guns and their potential motives.

“We’re definitely at a place right now where the court could unsuppress this case file,” he said.

Erickson and his co-defendant Alec McKinney, 16, both face 48 criminal charges, including first-degree murder and arson, in connection to the May 7 shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch. Their schoolmate Kendrick Castillo died in the shooting a week before he was slated to graduate. Eight others were injured.

Both suspects’ court files had been suppressed by Slade at the request of Brauchler and the suspects’ attorneys. Brauchler at a court hearing on May 15 requested that Erickson’s file be opened to the public except for the arrest affidavit, which would detail what investigators believe happened during the shooting.

The shooting has prompted Douglas County leaders to consider spending millions on school safety, mental health services and additional school resource officers.

McKinney faces charges in adult court despite his age, is scheduled to appear in the same courtroom next Friday. McKinney’s legal name is Maya Elizabeth McKinney but the defendant uses male pronouns and is addressed in court by his preferred name, “Alec.”

NOOO!!! I want to know the full extent of how the STEM shooters messed up and embarrass themselves.