On May 7, 2019, three days before his high school graduation, 18-year-old Kendrick Ray Castillo was killed in a classroom shooting at the STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado. He was in his British literature class when a gunman entered, pulled out a gun, and ordered everyone not to move. Kendrick lunged at the shooter and was fatally shot while protecting his classmates; his actions gave other students time to take cover and escape.

Kendrick was an only child who loved people and planned to study engineering; he was active in his school’s robotics club and had devoted thousands of hours to community service with the Knights of Columbus, who honored him posthumously. Two students, Devon Erickson and Alec McKinney, were taken into custody and charged in the attack that injured eight other students.