April 23, 2025 • 48 mins
How can we reduce school shootings? To find the answer, we tell the story of how a heroic young man, his friends, and campus staff saved lives during a Colorado school shooting – an event that provides some prescriptions on how to reduce this American plague…if we are strong enough to adopt them. Special Note: This episodes includes adult language and content.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Red Pilled America.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
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Speaker 1 (00:22):
I think you're going to love it, and be sure
to share, like, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you're
listening to it, support what you love, or it goes away.
Thanks everybody. This episode was originally broadcast on April eighth,
twenty twenty three. It was May seventh, twenty nineteen, almost
two pm when it all began. Brendan Bailey was sitting
(00:46):
in his British literature class, surrounded by friends.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Kendrick's to my right, my buddy Josh is behind me, Mitchell's.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
To my left.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
It was just three days before graduation and the crew
were closing out one of their final days of high
school with a movie.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Start watching The Princess Bride.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Of course, the class was dimly lit when Brendan saw
a classmate enter the room, a frail looking white guy
with half of his hair dyed jet black, and the
other half purple. His name was Devin.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
The corner of my eye. See Devin walk from the
north end of the door. He walks around the back.
He's got his guitar case. He sets his guitar case down,
and then he pulls the pistol out and he says,
nobody effing move.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I'm Patrick Carelci and I'm Adriana Cortes.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
And this is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
This is not another talk show covering the day's news.
We're all about telling stories.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Stories. Hollywood doesn't want you to hear stories.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
The media mocks stories about everyday Americans that the globalist ignore.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
You can think of Red Pilled America as audio documentaries,
and we promise only one thing, the truth. Welcome to
Red Pilled America.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Every time a mass shooting happens in America, at some point,
everyone rightly starts to wonder is there something that could
have been done to stop it. Inevitably, before the dust
even settles, the anti gun lobby begins pushing for firearmbands
and pro Second Amendment Americans are forced to respond with
their own prescription. The conflict eventually reaches a standstill, and
(02:32):
little gets done. To reduce the chance of future violence.
With this never ending cycle constantly in motion, rational minds
have to wonder, is there another way? No matter where
you land in the debate, is there a path forward
that we can all get behind? How can we reduce
the plague of school shootings? To find the answer, we
(02:53):
tell the story of a school shooting in Colorado, one
that provides some prescriptions on how to reduce mass shootings
if adopted and enforced throughout America communities.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Becoming a teenager is a tough transition for kids. It's
a time that wreaks havoc on the mind, body, and soul,
and in some communities these changes can create tumultuous environments
at school. That's what Brendan Bailey experienced.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
The school that I went to was a charter school,
and I hated it.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
That's Brendan. Brendan is a white young man with short
brown hair and the looks of an up and coming
Hollywood actor at the time in twenty fourteen, Brendan was
having a tough time at his middle school.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I absolutely despised it, so nearing the end of my
seventh grade year, my parents were looking around for alternative schools.
That I can attend, and they found STEM.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
STEM, of course, stands for science, Technology, Engineering in math,
and STEM schools focus on these areas of study. Brendan's
family found this STEM school in a Colorado town just
south of Denver.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
STEM is in Highlands Ranch, and what they did is
they took a office building that they had converted into
a school that focuses around STEM concepts.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
The school had roughly nineteen hundred kids spread throughout the
kindergarten through twelfth grade levels, so each grade had a
relatively small number of students.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I think my graduating class in twenty nineteen was like
one hundred and ten hundred and fifteen students. Even if
you weren't friends with everybody, you knew the faces of
everybody within your grade and most likely everybody else who
is in a grade above or below you.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
By ninth grade, a new student entered this STEM school,
a guy named Kendrick Castillo, a Latino kid with dark
hair and a seemingly perpetual smile.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I remember the first time I really interacted with Kendrick
was in our internal Combustion Engines class. The class was
disassembling and discussing the properties of engines, and slowly started
goofing off with him and some of my other bodies
in class, and it just started from there. Everybody liked
Kendrick very much involved in TA and the robotics team.
Now TSA stands for Technology Student Association, which basically is
(05:09):
a conglomerate of competitions from submarine robotics to also what
airplanes to new fashion. It was like the school baseball, football,
track and field forced them that was the best way
I get to quit. We didn't have football, we had
TSA and robotics.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
And it was this specialized field of study that brought
Kendrick to the STEM School in the first place. And
just like Brendan, it was a long journey for Kendrick
to get there as well.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
I attended Denver schools and I was never really thrilled
about the education I received.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
That's John Castillo, Kendrick's father.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Because of that, my wife and I when it was
time to put him into school, we were looking for
a place that he would fit in well.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
The Castillo family is Catholic. They attended a southwest Denver
Catholic church that hadn't attached pre K through eighth grade school.
John and his wife Maria thought that the church's families
and kids were great, so they decided to enroll Kendrick there.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
You know, it wasn't along with for you know, he
literally had the keys to the school. They would let
him go and you know, celebrate Mass. He would be
able to leave class to you know, be an altar
server and help with funerals, do things like that and
just he was really one of the leaders in the school.
He also, because of his love for technology, excelled in
(06:24):
science fair. He created a technology class and helped the
teachers with computers. It's in Catholic school. You know, that's
something that was relatively new at the time. They were
just getting used to it.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
But the school only went to the eighth grade. So
as the end of middle school approached, the Castillo family
began looking for a high school option.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
A lot of the kids that he was in school
with progressed on to different Catholic schools and high schools
in the area. The one thing about Kendrick is he
was never really a guy that played a lot of sports.
He would joke about that. He's like, Dad, I can't
(07:03):
throw a football, I can't bounce a basketball, but he
can tear apart a MacBook, he would do microelectronic projects, robotics.
So when it came time to find him a school,
the schools that his friends went to, you just weren't
a good fit. They didn't offer really anything like that,
which led us to the Stem School.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It was the perfect fit for their boy, Kendrick and
Kendrick was special to John and Maria in a way
that many parents can relate to. John grew up in
Southwest Denver. Maria was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. They both
ended up working in a large American hotel chain. Maria
as a chef and worked in the kitchen. John was
the maintenance man on the property. The two met while
(07:45):
on the job in the early nineteen nineties.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Founder attractive and I make a little joke that you know,
I like to eat and she's a cook. So, you know,
one thing led to another and that's how we met.
We met through our jobs, just like many people do.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
They dated for about three years, then got married soon after.
They wanted to grow their family.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Pregnancy was difficult for us. My wife had become pregnant
and miscarried and we were having trouble having children.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
A few years in Maria was finally pregnant. The two
were elated. Like most expecting parents, they got an ultrasound
to find out their baby's gender.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Every time they would do the ultrasound, he had his
legs crossed and they couldn't tell the gender. You know,
they said, by heartbeat, sounds like it's probably a girl.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Maria eventually went into labor, which was full of surprises.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
When she was going into labor, we thought it was
going to be a natural birth. In at the last minute,
they had to deliver through C section, and I remember
just the panic look on her face when they had
to do the epidural to basically paralyze her, you know,
to do this procedure.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Then came the second surprise.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
When he was delivered and it was a boy. I mean,
you could probably heard me scream in the delivery room.
The entire situation, I mean, seeing my son born and
being in the delivery room and wanting to to be
near here when he was out and alive, holding him
for a brief moment, and trying to be in two
places at one time. You know, it was just an
(09:14):
amazing feeling.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So when the time came to decide on high schools,
for their precious only child. It was a big decision
for John and Maria.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
There weren't a lot of Catholic schools or private schools
that offered the engineering aspect that we were looking.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
For, and the STEM School offered a curriculum that fit
right into Kendrick's wheelhouse.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
I think that he was more thrilled than anything about
what it offered as far as engineering and technology, and
Kendrick was excited. I was concerned a little bit when
we left the comfort of a private school and the
virtues and values that he had been exposed to and
around there. It was comforting, but we loved Kendrick so much.
(10:03):
We wanted him to continue to be happy with his
life and his career and what he wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And in time it became very clear that the STEM
School would definitely need a lot of what Kendrick had
to offer. Israel is still under attack. Missile fire has
resumed from Israel's enemies, Terrists who seek utter death and destruction.
Here in America, we can't imagine what it's like to
(10:33):
live in constant fear like this, but for the people
of Israel, it's all very real every single day. Please
join us and show the people of Israel you'll help
protect them in this time of attack and uncertainty. And
one of the best ways to do this is by
giving to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Your
gift today helps provide security essentials like bomb shelters, flack
(10:55):
jackets and bulletproof vests, armoured security vehicles, ambulances, and so
much more. There's no better time to give than right now,
during the Passover holiday, when we celebrate Israel's historic deliverance
and birth as a nation. Give a special Passover gift
today and help protect the people of Israel. Call eight
eight eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's eight eight eight
(11:18):
four eight eight four three two five, or go online
at support IFCJ dot org. That's one word, support IFCJ
dot org.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Welcome back to red Pilled America. So John and Maria's
only child, Kendrick Castillo, was showing promise in the sciences,
they decided to leave the comfort of the Catholic school
system and enrolled him at the STEM School in Highland Ranch, Colorado.
(11:54):
Kendrick loved the new environment and began to excel in
classes like internal combustion engines and robotics. Kendrick met Brendan
Bailey his freshman year, and the two became fast friends,
goofing around in robotics class like kids do.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Is that a video?
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Better?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I gonna do anything with it?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
The two each had several buddy groups and would traverse
the trials and tribulations of high school with them. Along
the way, they encountered another classmate, a guy named Devin.
Devin was a bit of an oddball. He was short
and skinny, almost frail looking, and had golden brown hair
that looked a bit like a mop on top of
his head. If you were to create a Venn diagram
(12:38):
with Kendrick's and Brendan's close friends in one circle and
Devon's in another, the two circles wouldn't have much overlap,
but the class size was small enough so they'd occasionally
cross paths with Devon. Brendon can remember one of those
instances that stuck out. He was about midway through his
(12:58):
high school years and he was eating lunch when he
noticed a scuffle breakout between Devon and another their classmate.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Thing was Riley. Riley high functioning autism. One day at
lunch and I'm sitting outside they get into a fight
and not again, these are stem kids. My group of friends,
we use this term a lot goofy, kind of dorky kids,
so not fists or flying, but you know, they get
into some type of verbal altercation and Devin grabs him
and starts spinning.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
But Riley was a much bigger kid.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Riley could have probably had eighty pounds on the kid, so.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
When Devin grabbed him, it didn't phasee Riley in the least. Instead,
Riley practically picked Devon off the ground and swung him
around like a merry go round. Riley eventually let go
and Devin went flying like a twig to the ground.
By many accounts, Devin was a bit of a diminutive character,
the kind of kid that didn't look you in the eyes.
(13:52):
He was adopted by high school. He got into singing,
and he was pretty good at it. He was into
the pop punk scene. In his performances at times he
appeared to have a bit of a torture soul vibe.
On stage. He sang songs like Jet Black Heart by
five Seconds of Summer and This Is Gospel by Panic
at the Disco, a song about one of the founding
(14:13):
member's drug addiction. If you love me, let me go,
Devin would belt on stage. His song selections sometimes pointed
to a disdain for society, and he expressed an early
support for the LGBTQ movement. When he was thirteen, he
(14:34):
posted quote, you know what I hate all these Christians
who hate gays. He'd post a picture of himself with
the Rainbow flag and appeared to be a supporter of
President Obama and the Occupy movement. He'd apparently been indoctrinated
by wokeness by a senior year. Devon was five foot
five and all of ninety five pounds. Late in the year,
(14:55):
he had a girlfriend and became friends with one of
her friends, a transgender named Alec. Alec was born a
bio logical female named Maya, and from an early age
it was clear to see that Maya didn't stand much
of a chance in life. Her father was an illegal alien.
He worked as a drug mule and coyote, where he
helped smuggle people into the country. Both of Maya's parents
(15:19):
used drugs, including cocaine. Her father reportedly beat Maya's mother,
sometimes in front of Maya. He was eventually deported, and
even with the beatings, over an eight year period, Maya's
mother would regularly take Maya into Chihuahua, Mexico, where her
father lived, for visits. Maya claimed to have been molested
(15:42):
on one of these trips when she was seven. When
she was thirteen, Maya told her mother she was a lesbian.
By the time she reached fifteen, Maya reportedly began cutting
herself and was hospitalized six times in twenty eighteen, mostly
for self harm. When Maya connected with Devon through Devon's girlfriend,
she'd already taken up the male name Alec and had
(16:05):
identified as a transgender, which just a few months before
the end of the school year. Alec and Devon became
good friends. The two, along with Devon's girlfriend, did cocaine together.
Even though Alec was just a sophomore and almost two
and a half years younger than Devin, it appeared that
Alec had an outsized influence on her older friend. Devin
(16:25):
dyed half of his hair jet black and the other
half purple, practically the official hair color of trans allies.
As April twenty nineteen rolled around, the duo's dark relationship
began to take an evil turn, and the turn appeared
to happen right around the time of an infamous anniversary.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
Exactly twenty years ago. April twentieth, nineteen ninety nine, two
seniors opened fire at Columbine High School, killing a teacher
and twelve students.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Around the twentieth anniversary, practically every news network in the
country featured a segment on the horrific columbar In High
school shooting.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Twenty years ago.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Today, twenty years, twenty years later, twenty years since Columbine.
It is hard to believe it's been twenty years since
the Columbine attack.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
One of the consistent themes was that the event inspired
a wave of copycats.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
But the Colorado shooting brought copycats and contagion. It wasn't
the first mass school shooting, but somehow it became a
fresh starting point and a heartbreaking list that grew every year.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You couldn't get away from the Columbine coverage, especially in
the state where it occurred, Colorado, and in the wake
of this onslaught of coverage, many schools were on high
alert for a copycat.
Speaker 7 (17:39):
At least eighteen districts closed hundreds of schools last night
and told more than five hundred thousand students to stay home,
just a few days before the anniversary of the Columbine
High School shootings.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Police believe that soul Piez is fascinated with the events
of Columbine that happened before she was even born.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
And this threat wasn't just confined to the day of
the anniversary. A little over a week after that these remembrances,
a potential threat to the Stem School hit the Internet.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
About a week after the blanket news coverage, someone logged
onto the Wikipedia page of the Stem School and left
an ominous message on the page. A twenty eighteen article
read anti suicide programs are implemented to help lower chances
of suicide and school shootings. On April twenty nine, twenty nineteen,
someone added two comments next to that article that read
(18:28):
do they work? We shall see? Was that a warning
the person who left the comment didn't log into Wikipedia,
an act that exposes the commenter's IP address, a kind
of a computer location that can help track down the poster,
but the message was ignored. It was all around this
time that the sixteen year old transgender sophomore Alec reportedly
(18:53):
began considering a mass shooting. A school counselor would later
claim that Alec was a manipulative bully who preyed on
vulnerable students. Students like the frail perhired Devon. Alec allegedly
enlisted Devon into the idea of a mass shooting, but
Devon was giving signs that he was a willing participant
in the demented scheme. He went by the name Devon
(19:15):
Kills on the social media platform Snapchat. Their initial plan
was to lure kids to a cabin under the pretense
of a party, then kill them all executioner style, but
the plan would be abandoned for a different approach. Of
(19:35):
The new idea was for both students to enter a
Stem School classroom, kill every single person in room one
O seven, Devon's British literature class, and once the last
person lay dead, Alec would either commit suicide or Devon
would turn his gun on Alec. Devon could then tell
the police that he killed the lone shooter Alec, making
him the hero. Alec basically had a death wish. The
(19:59):
perverted idea sat there for a while and may have
ever been acted upon, but then Tuesday, May seventh, twenty nineteen,
came along. That morning was a typical one for Kendrick
Castillo again Kendrick's father John.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
He got up that morning. My wife was off of work,
so she made a breakfast for us. It was a
nice day in Colorado.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
The two finished breakfast, I walked.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
Him outside and my wife waited at the door, and
I took a photograph of him driving away in his jeep,
which is something I would probably never do, but we
put new tires on his jeep. He was so proud
of that, and it looks so cool. He wanted to
share it with his friends, and so I took this picture,
and I seen him cress the corner of our block,
and he disappeared to go to school, and then I
(20:42):
went off to work.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
With just three days left of high school, the atmosphere
was pretty loose. Kendrick eventually met up with Brendan, Biley
and his other buddies for lunch. Again.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Brendan, me, my best friend, Spencer, my really good buddy, Daniel,
and Kendrick. All of us very close. All of us
were good friends. We had actually hung out that entire lunch,
him and I and a couple other of us off period,
so we hung up for about two hours before we
actually went into the English class.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
But while Brendan, Kendrick and their friends were having an
innocent day, Devin and Aleck were spiraling out of control.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Early that day, Devin did a line of cocaine and
smoked marijuana with a friend. At some point that same morning,
Devin and his girlfriend got into a fight. She'd recently
entered treatment for cocaine addiction, and Devin and her fought
over their sobriety. Devon would later connect with his transgender
friend Alec, and the two were distraught over their mutual
(21:34):
friend's newfound soberness. They thought they'd lost her, and according
to Alec, that was the trigger to put their killing
plan into action. The two snorted cocaine in Devon's parents' basement,
then they tried breaking into Devon's father's gun safe. They
used an axe and a crowbar to put their hero
plan into action. Alec filmed Devon breaking into the safe
(21:57):
in a way that made it look like she was
forcing him to do it. After about an hour, the
two successfully broke open the safe and acquired a cash
of guns and a rifle. At almost one pm, the
two did more cocaine, and again Alec filmed Devon capturing
(22:19):
it in a way that made it look like she
was forcing Devon to take the drug. The pair then
went into Devon's garage spray painted fuck Society, the numbers
six sixty six and what looked like a pentagram on
his adopted mom's car. Then they poured gas on the
vehicle and tried to light it on fire. The duo
were completely out of control and they were about to
(22:41):
step it up even further. Devon was a musician that
regularly carried around his guitar case on campus. It was
the perfect size for a rifle. He loaded it up
with the forty five caliber gun, the rifle, and hundreds
of rounds of ammunition. Alec put two guns and some
ammo into her backpack as well. They loaded up Devon's
(23:02):
car and Devon drove him to the Stem school. They
arrived to the campus and a school camera caught them
at one twenty four, calmly entering the facility through a
middle school entrance that they knew was unmonitored. As they
walked by the front desk attendant, they nonchalantly waved to
the attendant their mission was to kill everyone in Room
(23:22):
one O seven. Devon's British literature class. Now, this particular
classroom was rectangular and had an entrance on each of
the short sides of the room. Their plan was to
split up and enter the room at opposite ends, lock
the doors behind them so that no one could escape,
and then they'd kill everyone in the classroom. When they
(23:43):
were finished, Alc would either turn the gun on herself
or Devon would kill her and claim to be a hero.
At one twenty five pm, the two put their plan
in motion. They gave each other a bro hug and
a fist bump, then split up.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Devon entered his British literature class about twenty minutes late,
and his classmates were in the middle of watching The
Prince's Bride. He set down his guitar case, but then
oddly went to his teacher and said he wasn't feeling well.
Was he having second thoughts or was it something else.
Devn's teacher asked a classmate to escort Devon to the
nurse's office. The classmate agreed and took Devon right away.
(24:21):
As Devon was in the nurse's office, Alec appeared to
get anxious. She texted Devon hurry. A minute later, she
texted him again I'm not gonna do this alone. She
goes on, I'll fuck you up. Do what I fucking say.
But for fourteen long minutes, Devin goes dark on Alec.
(24:43):
He laid down in the nurse's office with a cold
pack on his head, and while he's laying there, he
texted one of his friends in room one o seven
to leave the classroom, but the friend ignored the message.
Alec does the same for another friend, and that friend left.
She then decided to find out what was going on,
so Alec had to the nurse's office and waited outside
(25:05):
the door. She texted Devon one last time, saying, quote,
we have it all planned out, and that's all Devin
needed to hear. He got up and left the nurse's office.
He rejoined with Alec and the two headed back to
room one oh seven. When they arrived, they split up,
(25:25):
each making their way to a separate entrance. Then Devon
entered the dimly lit room and the Princess Bride was
still playing again. Brandon Bailey Kendrick's to my right.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I'm at the far left end of the room, which
would be the south end of the room. They're table
groups instead of individual desks. Kendrick's to my right, My
buddy Josh is behind me, Mitchell's to my left. You know,
there's some other students at the desk.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
And then the.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Corner of my eye see Devin walk from the north
end of the door, which was close to the middle
school office. He walks around the back. He's got his
guitar case, walks around the back of the classroom. He
goes to the south door, in which Kendrick and I
are the closest sitting to and he comes to the door.
He sets his guitar case down.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Devin then texted Alex's two simple words, go now.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
And then he pulls the pistol out and he says,
nobody effing move now.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Until you're in this situation, no one knows how they'll respond.
It's a time when instinct takes over, a time where
upbringing comes into play, a time where heroes are revealed. Well.
In this critical moment, when every single person's life was
on the line in that classroom, one person jumped into action.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Kendrick immediately from my right, shoots out of his seat
and is pushing Devin up against the wall. With Devin's
back to the wall and his pistol in his right hand.
Now it feels like minutes for my recollection that I
was sitting there watching it happen, but it could have
only been a fraction of a second.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
As Brendan saw Kendrick slam Devon against the white board,
he jumped into action as well.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Then I went up and I was behind Kendrick and
I was, you know, punching Devin in the back of
the head. Kendrick's a big kid, so he was keeping
Devin against the wall and he was trying to get
the pistol just press him there now behind me. I
didn't know it at the time, but my good buddy
Josh Jones, he comes up behind me and there's a
couple other.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Shots from the opposite end of the room. Alec was
shooting wildly into the classroom. Devin got off a few
shots as well, and in the process, Kendrick was.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Hit Kendrick's weight Since he shot, he falls and the
weight is gone. So Josh and I grab Devon and
throw him on the ground in between his desk and
my desk where Kendrick and I had been sitting. Devin
is now face down on the ground, but his pistol
still in his right hand. At that point, you know,
Josh and I are just punching and delivering blows to
his back, into his head, And then there was this
(27:54):
moment we saw Devin was still clenching the pistol and
he had turned it back towards our head. And I
vividly remember thinking, this, dude's trying to opposite the head, like,
we got to get the pistol now.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
So Josh and Brendan used everything in them to get
the gun from Devin.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
So him and I pried his fingers off of the pistol.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Devin finally let go of the gun.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I took possession of it. He stopped fighting. He majorally
started coggies, and it wasn't my fault. I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry. He's done.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Devin completely submitted.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Josh is now sitting on him, and.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
That's when Brendan began surveying the damage.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
I now notice there's two red spots forming on Josh's
leg and he had been shot twice in the struggle
to get Devon onto the ground. So I stood up
with the pistol. I dropped the magazine to make sure
it was still empty. I checked that there were still
rounds in it, and I put it back in the pistol.
I remember vividly standing up and there was no other
sounds besides the lock lights out of sight in the classroom,
(28:49):
with the you know, the alarm blaring, both doors both open,
and obviously the room was just just a mess. Everybody
leaving in a panic. Everybody's stuff was still there. Josh
was sitting on Devin and Devon wasn't moving. He was
done fighting. Josh said to me, he says, hey, super calmly,
you're Brendan canting him in my phone. I want to
call my mom. So I grabbed his phone off the
desk and I handed it to him and he called
(29:10):
his mom and him saying that I'm like, I should
probably call the police. So dial on in one. Hey
there's been a school shooting at Stem School Hinds Ranch.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
But by the time Brendan dialed nine one one had
already been jammed with calls, what.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
Okay, where is the act seting information on their shooting?
Stem School E seven seven Ridgeline Boulevard, again getting reports
that's not fired in the school at the Stem School.
I want to try I'm okay for all, Yes, we
have a shooter in room one zero seven one o seven.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
So Brendan told the nine one one dispatcher to send help.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Hung up the phone, and then Kendrick is now on
his back, laying on the ground, not far from where
he had originally stopped Devin. So I kneel down, I
put the gun on the ground by my side, and
I tap him on the chest. I'm tapping him on
the face. I'm saying, hey there, buddy, there, you know,
can you try to invoke any type of response from Kendrick.
(30:17):
His eyes are rolled back, the breathing is incredibly staggered.
So I'm like, okay, he's he's out cold, like he's unconscious.
He's in bad shape. So what I do is I
lift up the front of his sweater, his sweatshirt, and
I looked for any entrance or exit wounds on the
front of his body, and then I rolled him over
onto his right side. And then that's when I saw
on the left side of his back that's where the
(30:37):
bullet hole was, That's where he had been shot. So
I put Kendrick back on his back. I take the pistol.
I don't know if there's another shooter. I have no
idea what's going on, So with a pistol, I walked
down to the opposite end of the door that Devin
had entered from the northern door, and I looked down
the hallway to the right and then to the left.
I see our IT teacher, mister Pritchard, and he was
carrying a big stainless steel revolver.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Well Brendan, Kendrick and Josh were trying to pry the
gun from Devon's hand. On the other side of the room,
there was a life and death struggle for Alec's gun
as well. After Devin texted Alex to go now, Alec
stepped in and began wildly shooting into the class room.
A student named Jaxon Gregory initially took cover behind the
teacher's desk, but Jackson quickly figured that if he waited
(31:22):
there any longer, he'd be a dead man, so in
a split second decision, he hopped over the desk and
tackled Alec. He was shot in the process, but wasn't
seriously wounded. The class teacher, Lauren Harper, saw the struggle
and joined in, as did the IT director, Mike Pritchard.
They all successfully pried the gun from Alec, who'd already
(31:43):
fired nine bullets from the gun, But in the heat
of the moment, Alec broke away and exited the room,
reached into her backpack and grabbed another gun. As she
was attempting to re enter the class room, the school
security guard named Shamson Sandura approached Alec. The security guard
was secretly carrying a gun with him on campus, a
(32:03):
gun he was reportedly not supposed to have. The guard
commanded Alec to drop the weapon, but Alec didn't comply. Instead,
she turned the gun on herself and pointed it at
her head, but after a few moments, Alec couldn't pull
the trigger. She eventually dropped the weapon and submitted to
the security guard. As Alec was being subdued, Brendan came
(32:25):
across the IT director mister Pritchard that was holding Alec's gun.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
He comes in and I, you know, I'm like making
it very clear that I am not the threat. We
have one of the shooters and Kendrick's been shot.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
While looking for something to apply to Kendrick's wound, Brendan
again poked his head outside the classroom.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
But then I look up and one of the security
guards has a gun on me, so I, oh, you
get to the ground, so you know, I lay flat
on the ground. I very quickly tell him that no,
I'm not a shooter. We have one of the students
who was a shooter in that classroom. We have a
student who's been shot. I crawl on the ground flat,
you know, pull my hands towards him, sit up against the.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Wall, and that's when Brendan noticed that Alec was handcuffed.
Within a few sets seconds, the first round of police
officers entered the building. They'd made it there within a
few minutes of the first nine to one to one call.
The officers entered the building, making their way towards Room
one oh seven, and as they approached the room, a
muzzle from one of their guns poked around the corner.
(33:20):
Thinking that it was a third shooter, the security guard
fired two shots towards the vicinity of the police. The
bullets missed the officers but traveled through a wall, wounding
two students. The security guard quickly realized it was law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
He said, oh no, he took his pistol. He threw
it at him across the hallway, so he slid it
down the floor. He shouted that we're over here, and
then he came down to sit by next to me,
and then that's when police started to converge in every
entrance to the building.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Brendan was finally able to check himself for wounds. He
was okay by that point. Mister Pritchard locked himself and
others in room one oh seven so no other shooters
could get in, so law enforcement used a.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Battering ram so they pulled up the door down.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Police entered the room and found students shot, including Kendrick Castillo.
The police quickly took control of the situation.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Twenty one. Okay, we're trying to get a suspect info.
We do have one person who off the lower back.
At least three people are injured, schools in lockdown. He's
the one we have in custody.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
He's the way mail as a likely on the lawyer.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
The chaos may have been over, but for John and
Maria Castillo, the horrific ordeal was just getting started.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Do you want to hear red Pilled America stories ad free?
Then become a backstage subscriber. Just log onto Redpilled America
dot com and click join in the top menu. Support
what you love or it goes away. The choice is yours.
Welcome back to red pilled America. John was across the
street from the hotel he worked at, having lunch at
(34:56):
Chick fil A when he first got word.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
I get a text. He and a co worker of
mine text and he said, what's goll Does Kendrick go
to is at the STEM School? And I text back
and I said yes.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
His coworker responded saying that there was an active shooter
at the school. John dropped everything and ran back across
the street to the hotel.
Speaker 5 (35:19):
And I called my wife and she's like, no, it
can't be. It couldn't be the STEM School, And I
said it is. I'm watching it right now, and they're
telling people to go to Northridge Recreation Center. That's the
reunification site. So if you can start driving there, I'll
meet you.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
John jumped in his car and began driving to the
rec Center. On the way, he tried texting Kendrick.
Speaker 5 (35:42):
I was hesitant to call him on his cell phone
because I didn't want to expose if he was hiding
in a closet or somewhere.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
While he was en routed, Rain began to drizzle.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
From the sky, and finally I gave in. And you know,
one thing Kendrick ha did is if I did FaceTime,
So I face timed him to see if I'd get
a reaction or something, and there was nothing there. And
they were rushing through my head like maybe it's just
what's going on. There's so much traffic, the signals that
I getting through on our cell phones. So once I
(36:11):
got to a neighborhood and jumped a small fence and
was able to get to the recreation center, there were
news outlets, fire trucks, just families everywhere. And I walked
in and I could see that kids were being reunified
with their parents, and there was chaos everywhere, and my
phone was starting to lose by battery power.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Maria finally arrived. John asked around and no one had
seen his son. He began using the school's robotics app,
messaging everyone to report in.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
So messages started coming in, Yes, we're fine. I'm like,
has anyone seen Kendrick? And I got a message and said,
mister Castillo, Kendrick has rushed the shooter, and I just
(37:06):
I didn't know how to process that. I sat there
for a minute and I'm like, well, was he hurt?
Is where is he at? I mean, I was trying
to remain hopeful on this, and then somebody mentioned that
he might be at a hospital. So I remember turning
to his police officer and I said, you know, we're
looking for our son, Kendrick Castillo. And he said, what
what'd you say your last name was? And I said Castillo.
(37:28):
He goes, come with me.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
The officer left Maria and John in a makeshift waiting room.
Officers quickly returned.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
And then they said, you know, we think your son
might be at this hospital, and they rushed us there
and we got to the emergency room. The police officer
was talking to the nursing staff that was at their
little work center. They said, these folks are looking for
their son, Kendrick. Is he here? And they looked at
each other and I'll never forget the look. It was
(37:58):
like somebody has knowledge, but there I'm not sure how
to deliver it. And the nurse reached over the counter
and whispered into the police officer's ear and he said, okay,
stay here, folks for a minute. And Maria was asking
me what's going on, and I said, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
The officer escorted them to a room.
Speaker 5 (38:18):
We sat in there and a chaplain came in with
a detective and the police officer and they were like,
you know, can you describe what your son was wearing
this morning? And you know, I said he had cargo
shorts on and a hoodie. And the detective said, is
there anything else? Did he have any tattoos or pier
(38:40):
scenes or anything that would definitively identify him? And I
said no, of course not. I said he had Rabian
reading glasses. And she closed her tablet and she said,
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Kendrick was gone.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
And Maria said, take me to him. I want to
see where he is. And they said we can't. He's
still part of the crime scene in the school and
(39:29):
we can't take you there.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
The hospital set up a room for Maria and John
to accept visitors. Everyone wanted to comfort them and thank
them for their son's bravery. The two remained at the
hospital into the night. So many people came in to
give them love. They didn't want to leave, but eventually
the time came to go home.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
Maria and I left and we're taking home. We didn't drive,
you know, we had somebody drive us home. It was rainy.
And that's the other thing I didn't mention. You know,
when we were searching for Kendrick at that recreation center,
what turned out to be light rain in a drizzle.
About the time we left for the hospital, I mean,
(40:16):
the sky just opened up. We had just poured, and
I believe that's when Kendrick left us here.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
In the end, eight students were injured. One was dead Kendrick.
The shooters had hundreds of rounds and knew the ins
and outs of the school, but Kendrick's one selfless act
literally saved dozens of lives. The following day, Brendan Bailey
spoke to the media and made sure to highlight his
(40:56):
friend's heroics.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
It's been a very wild couple days. And before I
say anything else, and I mean anything else, I am
sitting right here. However, there are a couple other students
who aren't, one of those being Kendrick Castilla. He passed away.
I saw it happen, and I want to make something
very very clear. Kendrick Castillo died a legend. He died
(41:20):
a trooper. He got his ticket to Valhalla, and I
know he will be with me for the rest of
my life. Seriously, I love that kid.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
The following day, a vigil was held in Kendrick's honor.
The organizers were supposed to let STEM students speak, but
instead it was dominated by gun control activists like Colorado
Democrat US Senator Michael Bennett.
Speaker 8 (41:44):
I know our kids already have enough to do. They
have a job to do when they come to school.
Their job is not to fix America's broken gun laws.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
The STEM students demanded to speak, and when the organizers deflected,
the students storm out of the gymnasium and gathered outside
to let the media know exactly what they believed to
be the core issue, mental health. After making a commotion,
(42:20):
they were finally let back into the vigil to speak.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Yeah, pretty much really mad because they turned us to
the politics control and weekend here to respect our brother Kendrick.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Brendan Bailey went on to become a US Marine. Along
the way, he met a woman, also a marine, and
they married. He's now working towards a degree in applied
geology at MSU Denver.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Alec pled guilty, she was sentenced to life in prison
with the possibility of parole because of a US Supreme
Court ruling that declared it unconstitutional to sentence miners to
life in prison without parole. Alec could be out after
serving just twenty five years. Demon pled innocent, claiming that
Alec forced him to commit the heinous crime, but in
(43:28):
the end he was convicted on forty six counts, including
the first degree murder of Kendrick Castillo. He was sentenced
to life in prison without parole plus one thousand, two
hundred and eighty two years.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
John and Maria Castillo lost their only son to the
hands of these deranged killers. To any parent, it's an
unimaginable loss. I asked John how he and his wife
have been able to carry on.
Speaker 5 (43:55):
We draw upon our faith. We draw upon the love
of our son, that love, unconditional love that you know
you just can't shut the door on. For us, it's
we both have talked about this and we agree that
anything less would be dishonoring our son. I'll never abandon
(44:18):
my wife, and she sticks with me. We have our
tough days, but we rally together and we don't give up,
and that's what keeps us going. Kendrick was a uniter.
He was a kid that loved people and living in
his memory we have to one expose truths to honor him,
like Kendrick, attack that shooter. We have to attack this
(44:38):
problem and get the truth out there. That's the number
one thing, and.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
The Castillos are doing just that. They used an act
called the Clare Davis School Safety Act to force transparency
on what happened at the Stem School and uncovered the
details that led to that horrific event. They've secured more
than twenty depositions of school officials and acquired thousands of
pages of documents related to the school shooting. They want
(45:05):
parents to know that their communities must demand transparency on
the security and safety of their schools.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
Immediately after the shooting, I mean the director of the school,
the school principal, the school district, they all ducked away
and pulled back and went into this protective mode. They
never told us anything about what happened. There is never
an investigation done.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
In an attempt to keep the Castillo findings from being
released to the public, the Douglas County School District that
oversees the Stem School has attempted to pay the Castillos
the maximum settlement of nearly four hundred thousand dollars, which
would block release of the information. The Castillos have rejected
the insulting settlement payment and are fighting legally to be
(45:47):
allowed to release the information to the public so that
parents throughout Colorado and nationwide can benefit from understanding how
to make their schools more secure.
Speaker 5 (45:57):
We found several other things that I can talk about
right now that are damning and concerning in and you know,
strengthen what could have been done. And with those things,
Kendrick would be here today if they.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
Were act upon, which brings us back to the question,
how can we reduce the plague of school shootings. The
(46:29):
answer is clear. Schools must be hard targets. An expanding
mentally ill segment of the population knows that our children
spend most of their waking time in gun free zones.
Speaker 9 (46:40):
The city of Nashville and the nation are reeling from
the shooting yesterday at a Christian school that killed six people,
including three children. Police shot and killed the attacker, identified
as a transgender female.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Laws have made it so that the severely mentally ill
cannot be locked up until they commit a heinous act.
We must work under the assumption that they're out there
right now. Plot and the only real solution to that
is to make our schools hard targets.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
We advocate for security resource officers and schools. We support
mental health, early education mentorship to support kids who are
in broken families. Transparency. Had we known that a school
was so unsafe, Kendrick for sure wouldn't have been there.
The final thing, when all all else fails, is we
need to have, you know, highly trained arm staff in
(47:29):
our schools. You're going to lessen the risk of once
an event happens that you can stop it. You know,
in our case, the school was utilizing an SRO. There
was a dispute, they had fired him, let him go,
brought in an unarmed security and these killers knew that
they were banking on it.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
We can't leave our kids defenseless against these monsters, especially
when the media has convinced a huge segment of mentally
ill Americans that they are the victims.
Speaker 3 (47:57):
There was a mass event that just got thwarted this
individual trans in Colorado Springs.
Speaker 8 (48:05):
This is no longer a coincidence.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
It seems like. Red Pilled America is an iHeartRadio original podcast.
It's owned and produced by Patrick Carrelci and me Adrianna
Cortez of informed Ventures. Now you can get ad free
access to our entire archive of episodes by becoming a
backstage subscriber. To subscribe, visit Redpilled America dot com and
click join in the top menu. Thanks for listening.
This is Red Pilled America.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hey guys, we're working really hard here behind the scenes
to bring you, guys the best stories possible. If you
want to listen to Red Pilled America ad free, then
please become a backstage subscriber. So visit Redpilldamerica dot com
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Speaker 1 (00:22):
I think you're going to love it, and be sure
to share, like, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you're
listening to it, support what you love, or it goes away.
Thanks everybody. This episode was originally broadcast on April eighth,
twenty twenty three. It was May seventh, twenty nineteen, almost
two pm when it all began. Brendan Bailey was sitting
(00:46):
in his British literature class, surrounded by friends.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Kendrick's to my right, my buddy Josh is behind me, Mitchell's.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
To my left.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
It was just three days before graduation and the crew
were closing out one of their final days of high
school with a movie.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Start watching The Princess Bride.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Of course, the class was dimly lit when Brendan saw
a classmate enter the room, a frail looking white guy
with half of his hair dyed jet black, and the
other half purple. His name was Devin.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
The corner of my eye. See Devin walk from the
north end of the door. He walks around the back.
He's got his guitar case. He sets his guitar case down,
and then he pulls the pistol out and he says,
nobody effing move.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I'm Patrick Carelci and I'm Adriana Cortes.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
And this is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
This is not another talk show covering the day's news.
We're all about telling stories.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Stories. Hollywood doesn't want you to hear stories.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
The media mocks stories about everyday Americans that the globalist ignore.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
You can think of Red Pilled America as audio documentaries,
and we promise only one thing, the truth. Welcome to
Red Pilled America.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Every time a mass shooting happens in America, at some point,
everyone rightly starts to wonder is there something that could
have been done to stop it. Inevitably, before the dust
even settles, the anti gun lobby begins pushing for firearmbands
and pro Second Amendment Americans are forced to respond with
their own prescription. The conflict eventually reaches a standstill, and
(02:32):
little gets done. To reduce the chance of future violence.
With this never ending cycle constantly in motion, rational minds
have to wonder, is there another way? No matter where
you land in the debate, is there a path forward
that we can all get behind? How can we reduce
the plague of school shootings? To find the answer, we
(02:53):
tell the story of a school shooting in Colorado, one
that provides some prescriptions on how to reduce mass shootings
if adopted and enforced throughout America communities.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Becoming a teenager is a tough transition for kids. It's
a time that wreaks havoc on the mind, body, and soul,
and in some communities these changes can create tumultuous environments
at school. That's what Brendan Bailey experienced.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
The school that I went to was a charter school,
and I hated it.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
That's Brendan. Brendan is a white young man with short
brown hair and the looks of an up and coming
Hollywood actor at the time in twenty fourteen, Brendan was
having a tough time at his middle school.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I absolutely despised it, so nearing the end of my
seventh grade year, my parents were looking around for alternative schools.
That I can attend, and they found STEM.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
STEM, of course, stands for science, Technology, Engineering in math,
and STEM schools focus on these areas of study. Brendan's
family found this STEM school in a Colorado town just
south of Denver.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
STEM is in Highlands Ranch, and what they did is
they took a office building that they had converted into
a school that focuses around STEM concepts.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
The school had roughly nineteen hundred kids spread throughout the
kindergarten through twelfth grade levels, so each grade had a
relatively small number of students.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I think my graduating class in twenty nineteen was like
one hundred and ten hundred and fifteen students. Even if
you weren't friends with everybody, you knew the faces of
everybody within your grade and most likely everybody else who
is in a grade above or below you.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
By ninth grade, a new student entered this STEM school,
a guy named Kendrick Castillo, a Latino kid with dark
hair and a seemingly perpetual smile.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I remember the first time I really interacted with Kendrick
was in our internal Combustion Engines class. The class was
disassembling and discussing the properties of engines, and slowly started
goofing off with him and some of my other bodies
in class, and it just started from there. Everybody liked
Kendrick very much involved in TA and the robotics team.
Now TSA stands for Technology Student Association, which basically is
(05:09):
a conglomerate of competitions from submarine robotics to also what
airplanes to new fashion. It was like the school baseball, football,
track and field forced them that was the best way
I get to quit. We didn't have football, we had
TSA and robotics.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
And it was this specialized field of study that brought
Kendrick to the STEM School in the first place. And
just like Brendan, it was a long journey for Kendrick
to get there as well.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
I attended Denver schools and I was never really thrilled
about the education I received.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
That's John Castillo, Kendrick's father.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Because of that, my wife and I when it was
time to put him into school, we were looking for
a place that he would fit in well.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
The Castillo family is Catholic. They attended a southwest Denver
Catholic church that hadn't attached pre K through eighth grade school.
John and his wife Maria thought that the church's families
and kids were great, so they decided to enroll Kendrick there.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
You know, it wasn't along with for you know, he
literally had the keys to the school. They would let
him go and you know, celebrate Mass. He would be
able to leave class to you know, be an altar
server and help with funerals, do things like that and
just he was really one of the leaders in the school.
He also, because of his love for technology, excelled in
(06:24):
science fair. He created a technology class and helped the
teachers with computers. It's in Catholic school. You know, that's
something that was relatively new at the time. They were
just getting used to it.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
But the school only went to the eighth grade. So
as the end of middle school approached, the Castillo family
began looking for a high school option.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
A lot of the kids that he was in school
with progressed on to different Catholic schools and high schools
in the area. The one thing about Kendrick is he
was never really a guy that played a lot of sports.
He would joke about that. He's like, Dad, I can't
(07:03):
throw a football, I can't bounce a basketball, but he
can tear apart a MacBook, he would do microelectronic projects, robotics.
So when it came time to find him a school,
the schools that his friends went to, you just weren't
a good fit. They didn't offer really anything like that,
which led us to the Stem School.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It was the perfect fit for their boy, Kendrick and
Kendrick was special to John and Maria in a way
that many parents can relate to. John grew up in
Southwest Denver. Maria was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. They both
ended up working in a large American hotel chain. Maria
as a chef and worked in the kitchen. John was
the maintenance man on the property. The two met while
(07:45):
on the job in the early nineteen nineties.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Founder attractive and I make a little joke that you know,
I like to eat and she's a cook. So, you know,
one thing led to another and that's how we met.
We met through our jobs, just like many people do.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
They dated for about three years, then got married soon after.
They wanted to grow their family.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Pregnancy was difficult for us. My wife had become pregnant
and miscarried and we were having trouble having children.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
A few years in Maria was finally pregnant. The two
were elated. Like most expecting parents, they got an ultrasound
to find out their baby's gender.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Every time they would do the ultrasound, he had his
legs crossed and they couldn't tell the gender. You know,
they said, by heartbeat, sounds like it's probably a girl.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Maria eventually went into labor, which was full of surprises.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
When she was going into labor, we thought it was
going to be a natural birth. In at the last minute,
they had to deliver through C section, and I remember
just the panic look on her face when they had
to do the epidural to basically paralyze her, you know,
to do this procedure.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Then came the second surprise.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
When he was delivered and it was a boy. I mean,
you could probably heard me scream in the delivery room.
The entire situation, I mean, seeing my son born and
being in the delivery room and wanting to to be
near here when he was out and alive, holding him
for a brief moment, and trying to be in two
places at one time. You know, it was just an
(09:14):
amazing feeling.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So when the time came to decide on high schools,
for their precious only child. It was a big decision
for John and Maria.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
There weren't a lot of Catholic schools or private schools
that offered the engineering aspect that we were looking.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
For, and the STEM School offered a curriculum that fit
right into Kendrick's wheelhouse.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
I think that he was more thrilled than anything about
what it offered as far as engineering and technology, and
Kendrick was excited. I was concerned a little bit when
we left the comfort of a private school and the
virtues and values that he had been exposed to and
around there. It was comforting, but we loved Kendrick so much.
(10:03):
We wanted him to continue to be happy with his
life and his career and what he wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And in time it became very clear that the STEM
School would definitely need a lot of what Kendrick had
to offer. Israel is still under attack. Missile fire has
resumed from Israel's enemies, Terrists who seek utter death and destruction.
Here in America, we can't imagine what it's like to
(10:33):
live in constant fear like this, but for the people
of Israel, it's all very real every single day. Please
join us and show the people of Israel you'll help
protect them in this time of attack and uncertainty. And
one of the best ways to do this is by
giving to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Your
gift today helps provide security essentials like bomb shelters, flack
(10:55):
jackets and bulletproof vests, armoured security vehicles, ambulances, and so
much more. There's no better time to give than right now,
during the Passover holiday, when we celebrate Israel's historic deliverance
and birth as a nation. Give a special Passover gift
today and help protect the people of Israel. Call eight
eight eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's eight eight eight
(11:18):
four eight eight four three two five, or go online
at support IFCJ dot org. That's one word, support IFCJ
dot org.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Welcome back to red Pilled America. So John and Maria's
only child, Kendrick Castillo, was showing promise in the sciences,
they decided to leave the comfort of the Catholic school
system and enrolled him at the STEM School in Highland Ranch, Colorado.
(11:54):
Kendrick loved the new environment and began to excel in
classes like internal combustion engines and robotics. Kendrick met Brendan
Bailey his freshman year, and the two became fast friends,
goofing around in robotics class like kids do.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Is that a video?
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Better?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I gonna do anything with it?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
The two each had several buddy groups and would traverse
the trials and tribulations of high school with them. Along
the way, they encountered another classmate, a guy named Devin.
Devin was a bit of an oddball. He was short
and skinny, almost frail looking, and had golden brown hair
that looked a bit like a mop on top of
his head. If you were to create a Venn diagram
(12:38):
with Kendrick's and Brendan's close friends in one circle and
Devon's in another, the two circles wouldn't have much overlap,
but the class size was small enough so they'd occasionally
cross paths with Devon. Brendon can remember one of those
instances that stuck out. He was about midway through his
(12:58):
high school years and he was eating lunch when he
noticed a scuffle breakout between Devon and another their classmate.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Thing was Riley. Riley high functioning autism. One day at
lunch and I'm sitting outside they get into a fight
and not again, these are stem kids. My group of friends,
we use this term a lot goofy, kind of dorky kids,
so not fists or flying, but you know, they get
into some type of verbal altercation and Devin grabs him
and starts spinning.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
But Riley was a much bigger kid.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Riley could have probably had eighty pounds on the kid, so.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
When Devin grabbed him, it didn't phasee Riley in the least. Instead,
Riley practically picked Devon off the ground and swung him
around like a merry go round. Riley eventually let go
and Devin went flying like a twig to the ground.
By many accounts, Devin was a bit of a diminutive character,
the kind of kid that didn't look you in the eyes.
(13:52):
He was adopted by high school. He got into singing,
and he was pretty good at it. He was into
the pop punk scene. In his performances at times he
appeared to have a bit of a torture soul vibe.
On stage. He sang songs like Jet Black Heart by
five Seconds of Summer and This Is Gospel by Panic
at the Disco, a song about one of the founding
(14:13):
member's drug addiction. If you love me, let me go,
Devin would belt on stage. His song selections sometimes pointed
to a disdain for society, and he expressed an early
support for the LGBTQ movement. When he was thirteen, he
(14:34):
posted quote, you know what I hate all these Christians
who hate gays. He'd post a picture of himself with
the Rainbow flag and appeared to be a supporter of
President Obama and the Occupy movement. He'd apparently been indoctrinated
by wokeness by a senior year. Devon was five foot
five and all of ninety five pounds. Late in the year,
(14:55):
he had a girlfriend and became friends with one of
her friends, a transgender named Alec. Alec was born a
bio logical female named Maya, and from an early age
it was clear to see that Maya didn't stand much
of a chance in life. Her father was an illegal alien.
He worked as a drug mule and coyote, where he
helped smuggle people into the country. Both of Maya's parents
(15:19):
used drugs, including cocaine. Her father reportedly beat Maya's mother,
sometimes in front of Maya. He was eventually deported, and
even with the beatings, over an eight year period, Maya's
mother would regularly take Maya into Chihuahua, Mexico, where her
father lived, for visits. Maya claimed to have been molested
(15:42):
on one of these trips when she was seven. When
she was thirteen, Maya told her mother she was a lesbian.
By the time she reached fifteen, Maya reportedly began cutting
herself and was hospitalized six times in twenty eighteen, mostly
for self harm. When Maya connected with Devon through Devon's girlfriend,
she'd already taken up the male name Alec and had
(16:05):
identified as a transgender, which just a few months before
the end of the school year. Alec and Devon became
good friends. The two, along with Devon's girlfriend, did cocaine together.
Even though Alec was just a sophomore and almost two
and a half years younger than Devin, it appeared that
Alec had an outsized influence on her older friend. Devin
(16:25):
dyed half of his hair jet black and the other
half purple, practically the official hair color of trans allies.
As April twenty nineteen rolled around, the duo's dark relationship
began to take an evil turn, and the turn appeared
to happen right around the time of an infamous anniversary.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
Exactly twenty years ago. April twentieth, nineteen ninety nine, two
seniors opened fire at Columbine High School, killing a teacher
and twelve students.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Around the twentieth anniversary, practically every news network in the
country featured a segment on the horrific columbar In High
school shooting.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Twenty years ago.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Today, twenty years, twenty years later, twenty years since Columbine.
It is hard to believe it's been twenty years since
the Columbine attack.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
One of the consistent themes was that the event inspired
a wave of copycats.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
But the Colorado shooting brought copycats and contagion. It wasn't
the first mass school shooting, but somehow it became a
fresh starting point and a heartbreaking list that grew every year.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You couldn't get away from the Columbine coverage, especially in
the state where it occurred, Colorado, and in the wake
of this onslaught of coverage, many schools were on high
alert for a copycat.
Speaker 7 (17:39):
At least eighteen districts closed hundreds of schools last night
and told more than five hundred thousand students to stay home,
just a few days before the anniversary of the Columbine
High School shootings.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Police believe that soul Piez is fascinated with the events
of Columbine that happened before she was even born.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
And this threat wasn't just confined to the day of
the anniversary. A little over a week after that these remembrances,
a potential threat to the Stem School hit the Internet.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
About a week after the blanket news coverage, someone logged
onto the Wikipedia page of the Stem School and left
an ominous message on the page. A twenty eighteen article
read anti suicide programs are implemented to help lower chances
of suicide and school shootings. On April twenty nine, twenty nineteen,
someone added two comments next to that article that read
(18:28):
do they work? We shall see? Was that a warning
the person who left the comment didn't log into Wikipedia,
an act that exposes the commenter's IP address, a kind
of a computer location that can help track down the poster,
but the message was ignored. It was all around this
time that the sixteen year old transgender sophomore Alec reportedly
(18:53):
began considering a mass shooting. A school counselor would later
claim that Alec was a manipulative bully who preyed on
vulnerable students. Students like the frail perhired Devon. Alec allegedly
enlisted Devon into the idea of a mass shooting, but
Devon was giving signs that he was a willing participant
in the demented scheme. He went by the name Devon
(19:15):
Kills on the social media platform Snapchat. Their initial plan
was to lure kids to a cabin under the pretense
of a party, then kill them all executioner style, but
the plan would be abandoned for a different approach. Of
(19:35):
The new idea was for both students to enter a
Stem School classroom, kill every single person in room one
O seven, Devon's British literature class, and once the last
person lay dead, Alec would either commit suicide or Devon
would turn his gun on Alec. Devon could then tell
the police that he killed the lone shooter Alec, making
him the hero. Alec basically had a death wish. The
(19:59):
perverted idea sat there for a while and may have
ever been acted upon, but then Tuesday, May seventh, twenty nineteen,
came along. That morning was a typical one for Kendrick
Castillo again Kendrick's father John.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
He got up that morning. My wife was off of work,
so she made a breakfast for us. It was a
nice day in Colorado.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
The two finished breakfast, I walked.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
Him outside and my wife waited at the door, and
I took a photograph of him driving away in his jeep,
which is something I would probably never do, but we
put new tires on his jeep. He was so proud
of that, and it looks so cool. He wanted to
share it with his friends, and so I took this picture,
and I seen him cress the corner of our block,
and he disappeared to go to school, and then I
(20:42):
went off to work.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
With just three days left of high school, the atmosphere
was pretty loose. Kendrick eventually met up with Brendan, Biley
and his other buddies for lunch. Again.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Brendan, me, my best friend, Spencer, my really good buddy, Daniel,
and Kendrick. All of us very close. All of us
were good friends. We had actually hung out that entire lunch,
him and I and a couple other of us off period,
so we hung up for about two hours before we
actually went into the English class.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
But while Brendan, Kendrick and their friends were having an
innocent day, Devin and Aleck were spiraling out of control.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Early that day, Devin did a line of cocaine and
smoked marijuana with a friend. At some point that same morning,
Devin and his girlfriend got into a fight. She'd recently
entered treatment for cocaine addiction, and Devin and her fought
over their sobriety. Devon would later connect with his transgender
friend Alec, and the two were distraught over their mutual
(21:34):
friend's newfound soberness. They thought they'd lost her, and according
to Alec, that was the trigger to put their killing
plan into action. The two snorted cocaine in Devon's parents' basement,
then they tried breaking into Devon's father's gun safe. They
used an axe and a crowbar to put their hero
plan into action. Alec filmed Devon breaking into the safe
(21:57):
in a way that made it look like she was
forcing him to do it. After about an hour, the
two successfully broke open the safe and acquired a cash
of guns and a rifle. At almost one pm, the
two did more cocaine, and again Alec filmed Devon capturing
(22:19):
it in a way that made it look like she
was forcing Devon to take the drug. The pair then
went into Devon's garage spray painted fuck Society, the numbers
six sixty six and what looked like a pentagram on
his adopted mom's car. Then they poured gas on the
vehicle and tried to light it on fire. The duo
were completely out of control and they were about to
(22:41):
step it up even further. Devon was a musician that
regularly carried around his guitar case on campus. It was
the perfect size for a rifle. He loaded it up
with the forty five caliber gun, the rifle, and hundreds
of rounds of ammunition. Alec put two guns and some
ammo into her backpack as well. They loaded up Devon's
(23:02):
car and Devon drove him to the Stem school. They
arrived to the campus and a school camera caught them
at one twenty four, calmly entering the facility through a
middle school entrance that they knew was unmonitored. As they
walked by the front desk attendant, they nonchalantly waved to
the attendant their mission was to kill everyone in Room
(23:22):
one O seven. Devon's British literature class. Now, this particular
classroom was rectangular and had an entrance on each of
the short sides of the room. Their plan was to
split up and enter the room at opposite ends, lock
the doors behind them so that no one could escape,
and then they'd kill everyone in the classroom. When they
(23:43):
were finished, Alc would either turn the gun on herself
or Devon would kill her and claim to be a hero.
At one twenty five pm, the two put their plan
in motion. They gave each other a bro hug and
a fist bump, then split up.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Devon entered his British literature class about twenty minutes late,
and his classmates were in the middle of watching The
Prince's Bride. He set down his guitar case, but then
oddly went to his teacher and said he wasn't feeling well.
Was he having second thoughts or was it something else.
Devn's teacher asked a classmate to escort Devon to the
nurse's office. The classmate agreed and took Devon right away.
(24:21):
As Devon was in the nurse's office, Alec appeared to
get anxious. She texted Devon hurry. A minute later, she
texted him again I'm not gonna do this alone. She
goes on, I'll fuck you up. Do what I fucking say.
But for fourteen long minutes, Devin goes dark on Alec.
(24:43):
He laid down in the nurse's office with a cold
pack on his head, and while he's laying there, he
texted one of his friends in room one o seven
to leave the classroom, but the friend ignored the message.
Alec does the same for another friend, and that friend left.
She then decided to find out what was going on,
so Alec had to the nurse's office and waited outside
(25:05):
the door. She texted Devon one last time, saying, quote,
we have it all planned out, and that's all Devin
needed to hear. He got up and left the nurse's office.
He rejoined with Alec and the two headed back to
room one oh seven. When they arrived, they split up,
(25:25):
each making their way to a separate entrance. Then Devon
entered the dimly lit room and the Princess Bride was
still playing again. Brandon Bailey Kendrick's to my right.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I'm at the far left end of the room, which
would be the south end of the room. They're table
groups instead of individual desks. Kendrick's to my right, My
buddy Josh is behind me, Mitchell's to my left. You know,
there's some other students at the desk.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
And then the.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Corner of my eye see Devin walk from the north
end of the door, which was close to the middle
school office. He walks around the back. He's got his
guitar case, walks around the back of the classroom. He
goes to the south door, in which Kendrick and I
are the closest sitting to and he comes to the door.
He sets his guitar case down.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Devin then texted Alex's two simple words, go now.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
And then he pulls the pistol out and he says,
nobody effing move now.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Until you're in this situation, no one knows how they'll respond.
It's a time when instinct takes over, a time where
upbringing comes into play, a time where heroes are revealed. Well.
In this critical moment, when every single person's life was
on the line in that classroom, one person jumped into action.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Kendrick immediately from my right, shoots out of his seat
and is pushing Devin up against the wall. With Devin's
back to the wall and his pistol in his right hand.
Now it feels like minutes for my recollection that I
was sitting there watching it happen, but it could have
only been a fraction of a second.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
As Brendan saw Kendrick slam Devon against the white board,
he jumped into action as well.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Then I went up and I was behind Kendrick and
I was, you know, punching Devin in the back of
the head. Kendrick's a big kid, so he was keeping
Devin against the wall and he was trying to get
the pistol just press him there now behind me. I
didn't know it at the time, but my good buddy
Josh Jones, he comes up behind me and there's a
couple other.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Shots from the opposite end of the room. Alec was
shooting wildly into the classroom. Devin got off a few
shots as well, and in the process, Kendrick was.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Hit Kendrick's weight Since he shot, he falls and the
weight is gone. So Josh and I grab Devon and
throw him on the ground in between his desk and
my desk where Kendrick and I had been sitting. Devin
is now face down on the ground, but his pistol
still in his right hand. At that point, you know,
Josh and I are just punching and delivering blows to
his back, into his head, And then there was this
(27:54):
moment we saw Devin was still clenching the pistol and
he had turned it back towards our head. And I
vividly remember thinking, this, dude's trying to opposite the head, like,
we got to get the pistol now.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
So Josh and Brendan used everything in them to get
the gun from Devin.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
So him and I pried his fingers off of the pistol.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Devin finally let go of the gun.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I took possession of it. He stopped fighting. He majorally
started coggies, and it wasn't my fault. I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry. He's done.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Devin completely submitted.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Josh is now sitting on him, and.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
That's when Brendan began surveying the damage.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
I now notice there's two red spots forming on Josh's
leg and he had been shot twice in the struggle
to get Devon onto the ground. So I stood up
with the pistol. I dropped the magazine to make sure
it was still empty. I checked that there were still
rounds in it, and I put it back in the pistol.
I remember vividly standing up and there was no other
sounds besides the lock lights out of sight in the classroom,
(28:49):
with the you know, the alarm blaring, both doors both open,
and obviously the room was just just a mess. Everybody
leaving in a panic. Everybody's stuff was still there. Josh
was sitting on Devin and Devon wasn't moving. He was
done fighting. Josh said to me, he says, hey, super calmly,
you're Brendan canting him in my phone. I want to
call my mom. So I grabbed his phone off the
desk and I handed it to him and he called
(29:10):
his mom and him saying that I'm like, I should
probably call the police. So dial on in one. Hey
there's been a school shooting at Stem School Hinds Ranch.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
But by the time Brendan dialed nine one one had
already been jammed with calls, what.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
Okay, where is the act seting information on their shooting?
Stem School E seven seven Ridgeline Boulevard, again getting reports
that's not fired in the school at the Stem School.
I want to try I'm okay for all, Yes, we
have a shooter in room one zero seven one o seven.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
So Brendan told the nine one one dispatcher to send help.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Hung up the phone, and then Kendrick is now on
his back, laying on the ground, not far from where
he had originally stopped Devin. So I kneel down, I
put the gun on the ground by my side, and
I tap him on the chest. I'm tapping him on
the face. I'm saying, hey there, buddy, there, you know,
can you try to invoke any type of response from Kendrick.
(30:17):
His eyes are rolled back, the breathing is incredibly staggered.
So I'm like, okay, he's he's out cold, like he's unconscious.
He's in bad shape. So what I do is I
lift up the front of his sweater, his sweatshirt, and
I looked for any entrance or exit wounds on the
front of his body, and then I rolled him over
onto his right side. And then that's when I saw
on the left side of his back that's where the
(30:37):
bullet hole was, That's where he had been shot. So
I put Kendrick back on his back. I take the pistol.
I don't know if there's another shooter. I have no
idea what's going on, So with a pistol, I walked
down to the opposite end of the door that Devin
had entered from the northern door, and I looked down
the hallway to the right and then to the left.
I see our IT teacher, mister Pritchard, and he was
carrying a big stainless steel revolver.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Well Brendan, Kendrick and Josh were trying to pry the
gun from Devon's hand. On the other side of the room,
there was a life and death struggle for Alec's gun
as well. After Devin texted Alex to go now, Alec
stepped in and began wildly shooting into the class room.
A student named Jaxon Gregory initially took cover behind the
teacher's desk, but Jackson quickly figured that if he waited
(31:22):
there any longer, he'd be a dead man, so in
a split second decision, he hopped over the desk and
tackled Alec. He was shot in the process, but wasn't
seriously wounded. The class teacher, Lauren Harper, saw the struggle
and joined in, as did the IT director, Mike Pritchard.
They all successfully pried the gun from Alec, who'd already
(31:43):
fired nine bullets from the gun, But in the heat
of the moment, Alec broke away and exited the room,
reached into her backpack and grabbed another gun. As she
was attempting to re enter the class room, the school
security guard named Shamson Sandura approached Alec. The security guard
was secretly carrying a gun with him on campus, a
(32:03):
gun he was reportedly not supposed to have. The guard
commanded Alec to drop the weapon, but Alec didn't comply. Instead,
she turned the gun on herself and pointed it at
her head, but after a few moments, Alec couldn't pull
the trigger. She eventually dropped the weapon and submitted to
the security guard. As Alec was being subdued, Brendan came
(32:25):
across the IT director mister Pritchard that was holding Alec's gun.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
He comes in and I, you know, I'm like making
it very clear that I am not the threat. We
have one of the shooters and Kendrick's been shot.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
While looking for something to apply to Kendrick's wound, Brendan
again poked his head outside the classroom.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
But then I look up and one of the security
guards has a gun on me, so I, oh, you
get to the ground, so you know, I lay flat
on the ground. I very quickly tell him that no,
I'm not a shooter. We have one of the students
who was a shooter in that classroom. We have a
student who's been shot. I crawl on the ground flat,
you know, pull my hands towards him, sit up against the.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Wall, and that's when Brendan noticed that Alec was handcuffed.
Within a few sets seconds, the first round of police
officers entered the building. They'd made it there within a
few minutes of the first nine to one to one call.
The officers entered the building, making their way towards Room
one oh seven, and as they approached the room, a
muzzle from one of their guns poked around the corner.
(33:20):
Thinking that it was a third shooter, the security guard
fired two shots towards the vicinity of the police. The
bullets missed the officers but traveled through a wall, wounding
two students. The security guard quickly realized it was law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
He said, oh no, he took his pistol. He threw
it at him across the hallway, so he slid it
down the floor. He shouted that we're over here, and
then he came down to sit by next to me,
and then that's when police started to converge in every
entrance to the building.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Brendan was finally able to check himself for wounds. He
was okay by that point. Mister Pritchard locked himself and
others in room one oh seven so no other shooters
could get in, so law enforcement used a.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Battering ram so they pulled up the door down.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Police entered the room and found students shot, including Kendrick Castillo.
The police quickly took control of the situation.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Twenty one. Okay, we're trying to get a suspect info.
We do have one person who off the lower back.
At least three people are injured, schools in lockdown. He's
the one we have in custody.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
He's the way mail as a likely on the lawyer.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
The chaos may have been over, but for John and
Maria Castillo, the horrific ordeal was just getting started.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Do you want to hear red Pilled America stories ad free?
Then become a backstage subscriber. Just log onto Redpilled America
dot com and click join in the top menu. Support
what you love or it goes away. The choice is yours.
Welcome back to red pilled America. John was across the
street from the hotel he worked at, having lunch at
(34:56):
Chick fil A when he first got word.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
I get a text. He and a co worker of
mine text and he said, what's goll Does Kendrick go
to is at the STEM School? And I text back
and I said yes.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
His coworker responded saying that there was an active shooter
at the school. John dropped everything and ran back across
the street to the hotel.
Speaker 5 (35:19):
And I called my wife and she's like, no, it
can't be. It couldn't be the STEM School, And I
said it is. I'm watching it right now, and they're
telling people to go to Northridge Recreation Center. That's the
reunification site. So if you can start driving there, I'll
meet you.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
John jumped in his car and began driving to the
rec Center. On the way, he tried texting Kendrick.
Speaker 5 (35:42):
I was hesitant to call him on his cell phone
because I didn't want to expose if he was hiding
in a closet or somewhere.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
While he was en routed, Rain began to drizzle.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
From the sky, and finally I gave in. And you know,
one thing Kendrick ha did is if I did FaceTime,
So I face timed him to see if I'd get
a reaction or something, and there was nothing there. And
they were rushing through my head like maybe it's just
what's going on. There's so much traffic, the signals that
I getting through on our cell phones. So once I
(36:11):
got to a neighborhood and jumped a small fence and
was able to get to the recreation center, there were
news outlets, fire trucks, just families everywhere. And I walked
in and I could see that kids were being reunified
with their parents, and there was chaos everywhere, and my
phone was starting to lose by battery power.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Maria finally arrived. John asked around and no one had
seen his son. He began using the school's robotics app,
messaging everyone to report in.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
So messages started coming in, Yes, we're fine. I'm like,
has anyone seen Kendrick? And I got a message and said,
mister Castillo, Kendrick has rushed the shooter, and I just
(37:06):
I didn't know how to process that. I sat there
for a minute and I'm like, well, was he hurt?
Is where is he at? I mean, I was trying
to remain hopeful on this, and then somebody mentioned that
he might be at a hospital. So I remember turning
to his police officer and I said, you know, we're
looking for our son, Kendrick Castillo. And he said, what
what'd you say your last name was? And I said Castillo.
(37:28):
He goes, come with me.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
The officer left Maria and John in a makeshift waiting room.
Officers quickly returned.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
And then they said, you know, we think your son
might be at this hospital, and they rushed us there
and we got to the emergency room. The police officer
was talking to the nursing staff that was at their
little work center. They said, these folks are looking for
their son, Kendrick. Is he here? And they looked at
each other and I'll never forget the look. It was
(37:58):
like somebody has knowledge, but there I'm not sure how
to deliver it. And the nurse reached over the counter
and whispered into the police officer's ear and he said, okay,
stay here, folks for a minute. And Maria was asking
me what's going on, and I said, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
The officer escorted them to a room.
Speaker 5 (38:18):
We sat in there and a chaplain came in with
a detective and the police officer and they were like,
you know, can you describe what your son was wearing
this morning? And you know, I said he had cargo
shorts on and a hoodie. And the detective said, is
there anything else? Did he have any tattoos or pier
(38:40):
scenes or anything that would definitively identify him? And I
said no, of course not. I said he had Rabian
reading glasses. And she closed her tablet and she said,
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Kendrick was gone.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
And Maria said, take me to him. I want to
see where he is. And they said we can't. He's
still part of the crime scene in the school and
(39:29):
we can't take you there.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
The hospital set up a room for Maria and John
to accept visitors. Everyone wanted to comfort them and thank
them for their son's bravery. The two remained at the
hospital into the night. So many people came in to
give them love. They didn't want to leave, but eventually
the time came to go home.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
Maria and I left and we're taking home. We didn't drive,
you know, we had somebody drive us home. It was rainy.
And that's the other thing I didn't mention. You know,
when we were searching for Kendrick at that recreation center,
what turned out to be light rain in a drizzle.
About the time we left for the hospital, I mean,
(40:16):
the sky just opened up. We had just poured, and
I believe that's when Kendrick left us here.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
In the end, eight students were injured. One was dead Kendrick.
The shooters had hundreds of rounds and knew the ins
and outs of the school, but Kendrick's one selfless act
literally saved dozens of lives. The following day, Brendan Bailey
spoke to the media and made sure to highlight his
(40:56):
friend's heroics.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
It's been a very wild couple days. And before I
say anything else, and I mean anything else, I am
sitting right here. However, there are a couple other students
who aren't, one of those being Kendrick Castilla. He passed away.
I saw it happen, and I want to make something
very very clear. Kendrick Castillo died a legend. He died
(41:20):
a trooper. He got his ticket to Valhalla, and I
know he will be with me for the rest of
my life. Seriously, I love that kid.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
The following day, a vigil was held in Kendrick's honor.
The organizers were supposed to let STEM students speak, but
instead it was dominated by gun control activists like Colorado
Democrat US Senator Michael Bennett.
Speaker 8 (41:44):
I know our kids already have enough to do. They
have a job to do when they come to school.
Their job is not to fix America's broken gun laws.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
The STEM students demanded to speak, and when the organizers deflected,
the students storm out of the gymnasium and gathered outside
to let the media know exactly what they believed to
be the core issue, mental health. After making a commotion,
(42:20):
they were finally let back into the vigil to speak.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Yeah, pretty much really mad because they turned us to
the politics control and weekend here to respect our brother Kendrick.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Brendan Bailey went on to become a US Marine. Along
the way, he met a woman, also a marine, and
they married. He's now working towards a degree in applied
geology at MSU Denver.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Alec pled guilty, she was sentenced to life in prison
with the possibility of parole because of a US Supreme
Court ruling that declared it unconstitutional to sentence miners to
life in prison without parole. Alec could be out after
serving just twenty five years. Demon pled innocent, claiming that
Alec forced him to commit the heinous crime, but in
(43:28):
the end he was convicted on forty six counts, including
the first degree murder of Kendrick Castillo. He was sentenced
to life in prison without parole plus one thousand, two
hundred and eighty two years.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
John and Maria Castillo lost their only son to the
hands of these deranged killers. To any parent, it's an
unimaginable loss. I asked John how he and his wife
have been able to carry on.
Speaker 5 (43:55):
We draw upon our faith. We draw upon the love
of our son, that love, unconditional love that you know
you just can't shut the door on. For us, it's
we both have talked about this and we agree that
anything less would be dishonoring our son. I'll never abandon
(44:18):
my wife, and she sticks with me. We have our
tough days, but we rally together and we don't give up,
and that's what keeps us going. Kendrick was a uniter.
He was a kid that loved people and living in
his memory we have to one expose truths to honor him,
like Kendrick, attack that shooter. We have to attack this
(44:38):
problem and get the truth out there. That's the number
one thing, and.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
The Castillos are doing just that. They used an act
called the Clare Davis School Safety Act to force transparency
on what happened at the Stem School and uncovered the
details that led to that horrific event. They've secured more
than twenty depositions of school officials and acquired thousands of
pages of documents related to the school shooting. They want
(45:05):
parents to know that their communities must demand transparency on
the security and safety of their schools.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
Immediately after the shooting, I mean the director of the school,
the school principal, the school district, they all ducked away
and pulled back and went into this protective mode. They
never told us anything about what happened. There is never
an investigation done.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
In an attempt to keep the Castillo findings from being
released to the public, the Douglas County School District that
oversees the Stem School has attempted to pay the Castillos
the maximum settlement of nearly four hundred thousand dollars, which
would block release of the information. The Castillos have rejected
the insulting settlement payment and are fighting legally to be
(45:47):
allowed to release the information to the public so that
parents throughout Colorado and nationwide can benefit from understanding how
to make their schools more secure.
Speaker 5 (45:57):
We found several other things that I can talk about
right now that are damning and concerning in and you know,
strengthen what could have been done. And with those things,
Kendrick would be here today if they.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
Were act upon, which brings us back to the question,
how can we reduce the plague of school shootings. The
(46:29):
answer is clear. Schools must be hard targets. An expanding
mentally ill segment of the population knows that our children
spend most of their waking time in gun free zones.
Speaker 9 (46:40):
The city of Nashville and the nation are reeling from
the shooting yesterday at a Christian school that killed six people,
including three children. Police shot and killed the attacker, identified
as a transgender female.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Laws have made it so that the severely mentally ill
cannot be locked up until they commit a heinous act.
We must work under the assumption that they're out there
right now. Plot and the only real solution to that
is to make our schools hard targets.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
We advocate for security resource officers and schools. We support
mental health, early education mentorship to support kids who are
in broken families. Transparency. Had we known that a school
was so unsafe, Kendrick for sure wouldn't have been there.
The final thing, when all all else fails, is we
need to have, you know, highly trained arm staff in
(47:29):
our schools. You're going to lessen the risk of once
an event happens that you can stop it. You know,
in our case, the school was utilizing an SRO. There
was a dispute, they had fired him, let him go,
brought in an unarmed security and these killers knew that
they were banking on it.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
We can't leave our kids defenseless against these monsters, especially
when the media has convinced a huge segment of mentally
ill Americans that they are the victims.
Speaker 3 (47:57):
There was a mass event that just got thwarted this
individual trans in Colorado Springs.
Speaker 8 (48:05):
This is no longer a coincidence.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
It seems like. Red Pilled America is an iHeartRadio original podcast.
It's owned and produced by Patrick Carrelci and me Adrianna
Cortez of informed Ventures. Now you can get ad free
access to our entire archive of episodes by becoming a
backstage subscriber. To subscribe, visit Redpilled America dot com and
click join in the top menu. Thanks for listening.
Hosts And Creators
Adryana Cortez
Patrick Courrielche
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