McKinney, 16, was identified as one of two suspects in the STEM Highlands Ranch shooting, which left one dead and eight wounded.
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.
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 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.
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.
