For Maria Castillo, her world fell apart on May 7, 2019.

That’s the day her only child, Kendrick Castillo, 18, was shot and killed rushing a at a shooter at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Douglas County.

Kendrick Castillo was the sole fatality in a shooting that injured eight students. His actions have been credited with giving students time to hide or escape.

“It’s like my life stopped that day,” Maria Castillo said Friday, choking back tears.

She and her husband, John Castillo, were among those who gathered on the grass of the Esplanade at East High School to remember the victims of gun violence.

Both the shooters — Alec McKinney and Devon Erickson — were convicted and are serving life in prison for the murder of Kendrick Castillo. McKinney has a has a chance of parole after 40 years; Erickson does not.

Friday marked six months since a student at East High School shot and wounded two administrators, setting into motion a response from Denver Public Schools that has stoked mistrust in education officials and sparked the formation of the Parents-Safety Advocacy Group (P-SAG).

Six doves were released to remember this year’s victims.

“We just want to say, ‘We remember you and we hope there aren’t more like you in the coming years,” said Gina Belich, a P-SAG member with sons at East.

The shooting at East High School six months has elevated the conversation around gun violence and student mental health.

Police accused 17-year-old Austin Lyle of shooting two East High School administrators on March 22. Lyle later committed suicide, the police said. 

Unarmed administrators had been tasked with conducting a pat down of Lyle for weapons, a policy Superintendent Alex Marrero has since reversed amidst growing public outrage.

But the district’s “the discipline matrix” — used to determine how to respond to problematic student behavior — remains in place.

The matrix, which is undergoing a district review, has been criticized by the public as too lenient, allowing criminally-charged students to remain in traditional rather than alternative or online classes.

Marrero and the board have supported a less punitive model.

Last year, the state’s largest school district with nearly 90,000 students, expelled just 16 high school students, said Bill Good, a Denver Public Schools spokesperson.

In contrast, Jeffco Public Schools — which serves about 69,000 students — had nearly twice as many expulsions: 30, said Kimberly Mahugh, a district spokesperson.

Jeffco is the state’s second largest school district.

Denver’s discipline matrix was last updated in October 2021, a year after the board banned armed police officers on campus.

In the wake of the shooting at East High, the board reversed course and approved the permanent return of school resource officers or SROs in June to the district’s comprehensive high schools.

The March 22 shooting was not the first at East High last academic year. A month earlier, 16-year-old Luis Garcia was shot sitting in his car on campus. He died after two weeks on life support at the hospital.

One of the doves released Friday was for Garcia.

The other doves honored RJ Harding, an unnamed 2022 grad; the two deans shot at East High School — Wayne Mason and Eric Sinclair; and Lyle, the accused March 22 shooter.

P-SAG members said Friday that they live dreading the next phone call, text or email alerting them of yet another school shooting.

“All we are, are parents who don’t want that next phone call,” said Steve Katsaros, P-SAG co-founder and parent to two East High School students.

Formed in the aftermath of the East High shooting, P-SAG’s 1,400 members have sought accountability and transparency from the district for its policy and decision making.

P-SAG members have been vocal supporters of gun violence victims and critics of the district’s behind-closed-doors decision making.

While Maria Castillo is grateful for the grassroots organization, she also can’t help to also feel a pang of hurt because her experience was so different.

“We didn’t have this support,” Maria Castillo said. “From the beginning, we were alone.”