 "Photo: DTH/Elyssa Sharp")
HILLSBOROUGH - Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Morgan set a trial date of May 5, 2008, for the man accused of firing shots at Orange County High School in 2006 after he killed his father.
Alvaro Rafael Castillo, an Orange High graduate, made a brief appearance in court Tuesday in a black suit and tie. After Morgan agreed to the date, Castillo smiled and tossed a slight wave over his shoulders to the courtroom before being led out of the back of the building to a sheriff's car.
Castillo has several charges stemming from the August incidents, including first-degree murder and two counts of possession of a weapon of mass destruction. He was 19 years old at the time of the incidents.
He is accused of driving a van through the guard house of the Orange High student parking lot about 1 p.m. Aug. 30 and opening fire on students eating lunch. Two students were injured, and Castillo immediately was taken into custody.
Castillo then told authorities he killed his father, Rafael Huezo Castillo, earlier that morning. Rafael Castillo's body was found with gunshot wounds at his Hillsborough home.
Castillo has said he's "obsessed" with the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in which two students killed 13 people before killing themselves. The Columbine High principal reportedly received an e-mail from Castillo hours before the incident that says he had planned a shooting at an N.C. school.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
