The father of Colorado school shooting suspect Maya “Alec” McKinney is an illegal immigrant and serial felon, according to a new report.
McKinney, 16, was identified as one of two suspects in the STEM Highlands Ranch shooting, which left one dead and eight wounded.
According to records obtained by the Daily Mail, McKinney’s father Jose Evis Quintana is a Mexican national who has been deported twice.
Quintana once served over a year in jail after being convicted of domestic violence against McKinney’s mother and was arrested multiple times in Colorado between 2008 and 2017.
Despite the domestic violence conviction, Quintana, 33, married Morgan Lynn McKinney, 32, in 2009. He was deported the next year.
EXCLUSIVE: Mexican father of alleged Colorado school shooter Alec McKinney was jailed for a weapons offense and deported TWICE https://t.co/Kc4SgkMOoA
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) May 10, 2019
In July 2009, McKinney successfully gained permanent custody of their children. The couple had three children together, including Maya McKinney, who was born in 2003.
In November 2009, Morgan McKinney and Quintana were married. She filed for divorce in 2014, describing in court papers how Quintana “has been traveling illegally between Colorado and Mexico.”
In 2016, an arrest warrant was issued for Quintana for domestic violence. He was located in Colorado, arrested for being a fugitive, and jailed pending extradition to New Mexico. He was soon deported.
During Maya McKinney’s first court appearance after the May 7 shooting in Highlands Ranch, her attorneys said that she was born as Maya McKinney but prefers to be addressed as “Alec” and identifies as a male, a condition known as transgenderism.
The juvenile suspect in the shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado has been identified in court records as Maya McKinney, who uses the name Alec McKinney on social media. McKinney is reportedly transgender and transitioning from female to male https://t.co/l7jvg63D0P pic.twitter.com/lMDfankK3O
— Heavy.com (@HeavySan) May 8, 2019
The World Health Organization classified a person claiming to be a gender different from the one they were born as a mental illness until June 2018.
A Douglas County, Colo., Sheriff’s Department deputy walks past the doors to the STEM Highlands Ranch school early Wednesday, May 8, 2019, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. Two high school students used at least two handguns in a fatal shooting on Tuesday at the charter school, authorities said Wednesday. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Students and teachers raise their arms as they exit the scene of a shooting in which at least seven students were injured at the STEM School Highlands Ranch on May 7, 2019, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. (Photo by Tom Cooper/Getty Images)Hearing Delayed Until Next Week
Prosecutors investigating the case against two students suspected of shooting nine classmates, one fatally, in a suburban Denver charter school have until next week to decide what charges to pursue, a judge ruled Friday.
Meanwhile, all but one of those injured in the shooting have been released from hospitals, officials said.
District Judge Theresa Slade delayed hearings that had been scheduled for Friday for Devon Erickson, 18, and 16-year-old Alec McKinney, who is listed in court documents as Maya. They are suspects in the shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday.
Court spokesman Rob McCallum said that both the prosecutors and defense agreed to a postponement until Wednesday.
Vikki Migoya, a spokeswoman for District Attorney George Brauchler, did not explain the reason for the delay.
The entire court file in the case is under seal. In an initial court appearance on Wednesday, Brauchler asked for a delay until Monday to file charges so that authorities would have the weekend to pursue their investigation.
The latest delay until Wednesday gives prosecutors more time to decide whether to charge McKinney as an adult. Colorado law permits prosecutors to file adult charges of serious felonies against 16- and 17-year-olds without prior approval from a judge.
Kendrick Castillo, the 18-year-old senior killed during the shooting, and two classmates at the school have been credited with helping thwart the attack by charging at one of the shooters when he entered a classroom. Authorities have said an armed private security guard restrained the second shooter.
Erickson and McKinney have been in jail since Tuesday on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
The two students walked into their school with handguns and opened fire in two classrooms, authorities said. Investigators have offered no motive and refused to discuss how the students obtained the weapons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
