COLORADO SHOOTING SUSPECT APPEARS IN COURT

Investigators share evidence that casts doubt on one of the STEM School Highlands Ranch suspect’s claim that he unwillingly participated in the May 7 shooting.

Investigators on Tuesday shared evidence that casts doubt on one of the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting suspect’s account that he unwillingly participated in the shooting only because he feared the other suspect would kill him.

The lead detective investigating the case testified for more than two hours during a Tuesday court hearing and outlined for the first time the evidence in the case against the two teens charged in connection to the shooting, which killed one and injured eight. The evidence indicated that one of the suspects, Devon Erickson, likely lied at least twice to investigators and showed that more than a dozen bullets peppered a classroom in the Douglas County charter school.

The account also detailed for the first time the extent of the injuries to the students who were shot. Eight students in the school suffered gunshot wounds in connection to the May 7 shooting, including one student who was shot by a school security guard responding the shooting. One of the students was shot in the head and twice in the arm. Another student was also shot three times — bullets struck both legs and his upper back.

In the hours immediately following the shooting, Erickson told investigators that his friend, Alec McKinney, threatened to kill him if he did not play along. Erickson told investigators that he obliged because he was afraid and that he wanted to save as many people as

possible, Detective Brian Pereira of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office testified at a court hearing Tuesday.

Records of the friends’ conversations via text and Snapchat messaging revealed that McKinney did threaten Erickson the day of the shooting. McKinney sent Erickson a text about 1:30 p.m. May 7 stating “I’m not doing this alone, I’ll (expletive) you up, you’ll do what I (expletive) say,” according to the detective. McKinney also recorded Snapchat videos showing Erickson breaking open his parents’ gun safe and snorting cocaine while McKinney directed his actions, but the videos do not show McKinney making a threat, Pereira said.

But detectives could find no evidence that Erickson tried to intervene in the shooting or tell an adult of his friend’s plans, Pereira said.

Erickson first told the detective that he never intentionally fired a gun once inside the classroom and that the .45-caliber handgun he held discharged once accidentally as his classmates tackled him. He also said he immediately relinquished the weapon to the other students.

Investigators, however, found four casings from .45caliber ammunition, indicating that the gun Erickson admitted to wielding fired at least that many times. One of the students who rushed Erickson also told investigators that Erickson fought back and pointed the gun at the heads of the students attempting to take him down, Pereira said.

Erickson, who was 18 years old at the time of the shooting, also told investigators that McKinney forced him to snort cocaine just before the shooting and that he had never consumed the drug before. But multiple friends of Erickson said the teen had used cocaine previously, Pereira said.

The social media and text records also revealed more about the relationship between the two suspects, who had been friends for months prior to the shooting. Conversations expressed anger toward their classmates as well as racist and derogatory messages about black people, Latinos and Jews, Pereira said.

Prosecutors during the hearing also showed photos of the classroom after the shooting, including blood on the blue carpeting and bullet holes in the door, wall and whiteboard. At least one bullet pierced a wall dividing the classroom from the one next door. Photos of Erickson taken after his arrest showed the word “God” scrawled in marker across his chest. More photos taken inside Erickson’s home show writing inside his parents’ closet that read “The voices win” and blue graffiti on his mother’s sedan including a pentagram and the numbers “666.”

The defense team did not do cross examinations or present its witnesses on Tuesday morning.

Douglas County District Court Judge Theresa Slade will decide after the hearing concludes whether the evidence is probable cause to support the 44 felony charges Erickson faces, including first-degree murder. The hearing could last through Thursday.

McKinney, 16, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 18. A judge will also hear arguments about whether McKinney’s case should be returned to juvenile court.

Both suspects are being held without bond.