HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Court documents released Thursday reveal new information about last month’s deadly shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch.
The suspects, 18-year-old Devon Erickson and 16-year-old Alec McKinney, are alleged to have opened fire with handguns inside the school, killing one classmate and wounding eight others on May 7.
The younger suspect’s name is redacted throughout nearly the entire document, but one of the statements refers to Alec by name.
Erickson claimed throughout the document that he was threatened by a person whose name was redacted.
Read: Probable cause affidavit (Note: the document contains specific details from the shooting)
The two suspects had been planning the school shooting for weeks, based on separate interviews with detectives.
They talked on Snapchat the night before the shooting about carrying out the plan at school the following day.
The younger suspect said he was “super suicidal,” that he wanted to get revenge on a lot of people, and contemplated killing his mother and siblings, according to the statement given by the older suspect.
According to the document, the younger suspect “targeted fellow students” who he said always made fun of him, “hated him” and said he was disgusting for trying to transition to a male, as he was born female.
The document states the younger suspect told detectives his intention was to shoot and kill those kids specifically.
After going to his home on the day of the shooting, the older suspect said the younger suspect threatened him with an ax and told him to break into his mom’s safe.
They broke open the safe by striking it with an ax and prying it the rest of the way open with a crowbar, according to the older suspect’s testimony in the affidavit.
The suspects painted “the voices win” with nail polish in the closet and spray-painted the older suspect’s mom’s car and set the car on fire.
They then consumed cocaine, which the older suspect said he only did because he was again threatened.
The older suspect put two of the guns – a 22-caliber rifle and a Glock 21 – in a guitar case, and the other person took two others – a Beretta and a revolver.
The older suspect also said he wanted to warn people at the school, but didn’t largely because the younger suspect was nearby.
According to the criminal complaint, Erickson has been charged with two counts of murder in the first degree, one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, 31 counts of attempt to commit murder in the first degree, one count of second-degree arson, one county of permitting a juvenile to possess a handgun, one count of third-degree burglary, one count of conspiracy to commit second-degree arson, one count of theft, one count of possession of a weapon on school grounds, one count of criminal mischief, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, one count of conspiracy to commit theft, one count of conspiracy to commit third-degree burglary, one count of interference with staff, faculty or students of educational institutions, one count of reckless endangerment and two counts of crime of violence.
The documents released Thursday also state that a security guard at the school shot and wounded a female while responding to the shooting.
