A father, who lost his son in the most recent school shooting to take place in the United States, wants him to be remembered as a hero.
On May 7, two people walked deep into a Colorado high school and opened fire.
Bullets from the weapons struck and injured eight people. One out of the eight has died as a result of his injuries.
As Yahoo! News reports, 18-year-old Kendrick Ray Castillo died a hero and his father, John Castillo, would like for him to be remembered that way.
Since the shooting, multiple students have come forward to say Castillo is the one who saved their lives.
In an interview with ABC News, one of Castillo’s classmates, Brendan Bialy, said Castillo never hesitated in his attempt to take the gunman down:
“There was no questioning. There was no hesitation. There was no looking around.”
According to Bialy, Castillo ran at the gunman after he entered their classroom, pinning him to the wall.
Bialy then stepped in to help and was able to disarm the gunman, but not before Castillo had been shot:
“It’s really hard to stop that kid when he gets going. The gunman … was against the wall and didn’t know what the hell hit him.”
When other classmates and his father heard how Castillo acted, nobody was too surprised.
John told reporters that his son once talked about what he would do if he was ever in an active shooter situation. He told his dad that he “wouldn’t think twice about acting.”
As ABC News reports, at the time, John begged his son not to play the hero:
“When I see the people that he saved, it made me happy. I knew my son wouldn’t have it any other way. But as any parent would tell youIt’s a heck of a trade-off.’”
Nonetheless, while John is proud of his son and the lives he saved, his death is still “devastating, as you can imagine.”
Another one of Castillo’s classmates, Nui Giasolli, told NBC News that it was because of Castillo that she was able to get out of their classroom alive:
“Kendrick lunged at him. He shot Kendrick, giving all of us enough time to get underneath our desks, to get ourselves safe, and to run across the room to escape.”
As Yahoo! reports, Castillo was known for his “strong sense of self,” his humor, and his love of robotics.