What we know about STEM shooting suspects

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Little remains known about the cases against the suspects in the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting that rocked the community May 7.

Case files for the younger suspect, a 16-year-old student, are protected because the suspect is a juvenile. And court documents in the case of the older suspect, 18-year-old STEM student Devon Erickson, are also sealed because the case in its entirety was suppressed by a judge.

Colorado Community Media will not name the juvenile suspect unless the suspect is charged as an adult.

Background information on the suspects has been sparce as well.

The older suspect is either a current or former student at STEM and the younger suspect has been identified as a current student.

Friends of both suspects contacted by Colorado Community Media either did not respond or declined to comment. Family of Erickson, a Highlands Ranch resident, said they were advised by their attorney not to speak to media but expected to release a statement in the future.

Erickson's Instagram account, "straightblades," now deleted, had eight posts as of May 7. They included a senior photo and pictures with friends at concerts. One purported to show him with the late music artist, XXXTantacion.

He'd been tagged in a group photo of people posing in masks with Airsoft guns — which use plastic rounds as part of a recreational sport — and in another post by a friend praising him as a good and supportive friend, referring to him as a little brother.

The Denver Post reports he had an interest in music and theater and started bands with a friend who was shocked to learn of his alleged involvement with the shooting.

Social media posts appear to show the suspects in prom photos together with a group of other young people. Following their first court appearance on May 7, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler could not confirm how the suspects knew each other or what level of a relationship they had.

STEM School Highlands Ranch

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