Six years ago, Kendrick Castillo sacrificed himself to protect his Highlands Ranch classmates. Now, his memory will live on forever with a physical presence in the community.
The Douglas County Community Foundation, along with Castillo’s parents John and Maria, unveiled a memorial for the former STEM School student Friday morning at Highlands Ranch’s Civic Green Park, with hundreds of community members in attendance.
“We tend to be a society that forgets our heroes, that seems to struggle to accept that horrible things happen and it is those who are willing to sacrifice that keep the horror contained,” said Commissioner George Teal, looking at John and Maria seated in the front row. “(Kendrick) probably just thought he was doing what you guys taught him to do, and it cost him his life.”
Just weeks before he was set to graduate high school, Castillo died on May 7, 2019 after two students opened fire at the STEM School, injuring eight other students. Multiple students said that he tackled one of the gunmen while suffering a shot to the chest, a shot that eventually killed him…