Two classmates reveal that Denver's second gunman was transgender and "did not get the support he needed"

The second gunman who allegedly opened fire on schoolmates at a Denver high school court appeared in court on Wednesday.

Alec McKinney was accused of killing a classmate and eight others injured alongside his friend Devon Erickson at STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday.

The authorities described McKinney as a girl named Maya after initially identifying the second gunman as a boy based on appearances.

But McKinney's friends confirmed that the teenager identified him as a man and preferred to call him "Alec".

McKinney is reported to be passing from woman to man, but Sheriff Tony Spurlock would not have confirmed whether the young suspect was transgender.

"At the moment, we identify the individual as a woman because that's where we are," he said. "We originally thought that the minor was a man of appearance."

When McKinney appeared in court on Wednesday, his lawyer said he preferred the pronoun "he," according to CBS Denver.

McKinney gave up reading the formal charges. He is detained without commitment. Erickson also did not plead and was ordered to return to court on Friday.

McKinney's friends revealed more details about the teenager on social media, opposing the authorities' decision to identify her as a woman and revealing that he was at home. taken with mental health problems.

& # 39; Nothing that Alec and Devon have done can not be tolerated, and they can not be defended. Their actions were terrible. But Alec is not a girl, "wrote a friend on her Instagram story.

"He deserves at least that respect. And I am deeply sorry for anyone who is affected by their actions. Things like this can be avoided and they are not. This is not okay.

This same friend later went on McKinney's Instagram page and revealed that he and Erickson had been troubled.

"Devon did not do what he did because he's liberal or to make a statement," she wrote. & # 39; He did it because of internal struggles. They both have mental health problems and it's time to become aware.

"Alec did not do that because it's trans, but if people had supported it the way it needed and deserved it, it would not have happened. not so much struggled that he would have been pushed to the limit. "

"They did a horrible thing, but please, recognize that mental health awareness is important." Supporting LGBT youth is important. They did not get the help they needed and they NEED it.

The friend said that she knew McKinney and Erickson personally and that she had not shot their classmates to stop them from hating those of others.

"It was hatred in itself," she continued. & # 39; And they needed support and they did not have it and this could have a lot to do with how it worked out. The way they felt is not an excuse for what they did. But I firmly believe that had they got the help they desperately needed, their condition would not have progressed so far. & # 39;

Another friend who followed McKinney's comments on Instagram said that the teenager was "really sweet and selfless".

"It's hard for me to accept that he did that, so it's hard for me to see those comments.

& # 39; You must understand that there are people who knew him for him before he pulled into a school. What he did was selfish, but I know that for a very long time he has not been.

A third friend called McKinney a "loving and selfless person" who "only wanted the best for others".

"Unfortunately, for lack of help or acceptance, it has reached its breaking point," they added.

"The Alec I knew was a truly loving person who could not have loved his friends more than him. Nobody could have guessed that in a million years he was able to do that, but he did it.

"Everyone can do the unthinkable when pushed too far. I do not try to condone his actions, I try to make it clear that this can happen to anybody and that we all have to make sure that we personally help our friends or our family. & # 39;

Erickson was charged Wednesday for first degree murder, at the adult age, of the death of 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo, who was only three days from his graduation. ;secondary studies.

He also faces dozens of attempted murder charges and was sentenced to a non-committal prison term at Douglas County Jail.

Classmates said Castillo was part of a group of three students who attempted to attack one of the shooters by attacking them when they stormed the classroom.

According to witnesses, two armed men stormed two classrooms and opened fire with handguns concealed in a guitar case.

Eight students were shot and wounded during the shooting and three of them are still hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Five had left the hospital on Wednesday morning.

The authorities have not yet published the motive for the shooting, which occurred a few kilometers from the scene of the 1999 murderous massacre at Columbine High School.

The shooters entered the school through an entrance without metal detectors, according to the police.

They were arrested a few minutes after the administrators reported the shot.

Sheriff Spurlock said the officers had hired the suspects and that there was a fight to shoot them down, but that none of the suspects had been hurt in the confrontation.

The authorities recovered three handguns and a rifle but said that it had not been used during the shootings. The two students were not old enough to buy or possess handguns.

Student Nui Giasolli was in her British literature class when Erickson arrived late.

"He walked to the other side of the classroom where we also had another door and he opened it," she told Today. "He came back as he was going back to his place, then he went back to the door and he closed it. The next thing I know, is that he's firing a rifle and that he's not telling anyone to move.

Giasolli said another student was thrown at the gunman, leaving his peers time to dive under the desks and escape to the shelter.

"Be part of the children who had the courage to shoot so that we could all escape and find all our families," she said. They were very heroic. I can not thank them enough.

Josh Dutton, 18, told the Associated Press that he was a close friend of Devon Erickson at college but had not seen him for four years while he was gone in another high school.

On Sunday, he spotted Erickson at a local streetcar station and said that he was shocked to see how much his friend had changed.

Erickson wore all the black, a hat and sunglasses, was definitely leaner and did not seem interested in talking.

"He said that he had just turned 18 and that he owned rifles," Dutton said.

Hundreds of people have accessed Twitter after the announcement of the shooting to express their horror that another US school has been targeted.

The shooting is the 43rd reported incident of gunfire on a school campus up to now in 2019 and the 116th mass shot in total this year.

The STEM campus is located just eleven kilometers from Columbine High School, where 13 people were killed and more than 20 injured on April 20, 1999 – a little over 20 years ago.

A number of students claimed in the Google reviews of the STEM School Highlands Ranch that the school had bullying problems, including a user who had the same name as Erickson.

The user, who called himself "NotSoFantasticDevon", said he was "literally assaulted" on campus and that the faculty had not done anything about it.

"The student dean made us delete the video of the kid who was attacking me, then they suspended me for half a day," read the magazine published six months ago.

"Then they told me that I was intimidating the child while I had a list of over 10 people who had seen this happen and who knew I was not there. did not intimidate. Do yourself a favor and do not let your child go here.

One student stated that the school provided "no support for students with a confirmed mental illness."

"In addition, bullying is a huge problem in school. It often seems that the problem is not even addressed by the school officials, if it is not selling for money selling anti-bullying stuff, while ignoring the problem in their own rooms They added.

Another student said that "99.9%" of all students in the school are "depressed / bullied / insecure", but the "office does nothing".