Staff Report
In the early morning of Sunday, Jan. 25, attendees of the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino’s LEX Nightclub witnessed an altercation involving 22-year-old Jesus Castillo who reportedly was punched in the face and knocked to the ground, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
Reno Police Officer Tim Broadway stated that Castillo was found bleeding and unconscious by first responders.
Castillo was immediately taken to Renown Regional Medical Center. The RGJ stated that information was released from the Reno Police Department explaining that Castillo’s family had made the decision to take him off of life support last Tuesday morning. Castillo was pronounced dead shortly after 1 p.m.
As of last Tuesday afternoon, Broadway said that Reno PD possessed no leads on any suspects. Broadway added that because they are not positive as to what occurred prior to Castillo’s injury, he is currently being viewed as an innocent bystander.
Castillo was an employee at the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows and worked with children every day. Channel 4 News quoted Executive Director of the club Mike Wurm who stated that the incident was something that should not have occurred and does too often.
“[Castillo] was someone that kids loved and the staff loved working with,” Wurm said in his interview for Channel 4 News. “He just made a lot of connections and a lot of kids looked up to him.”
In 2013, Channel 4 explained, Castillo participated in an internship with the University of Nevada, Reno’s Wolf Pack Athletics. In addition, he served as a Dean’s Future Scholar mentor for the middle school summer program at UNR.
Nevada Athletics hosted a fundraiser and collected donations from the attendees of the UNR’s basketball game against UNLV during halftime. The event raised $3,857 in proceeds for Castillo’s family.
The news desk can be reached at cboline@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @TheSagebrush.
Photo courtesy of Dean’s Future Scholars
Jesus Castillo (third from left) poses at an event for Dean’s Future Scholars with other members of the program. Castillo was a member of DFS while in high school due to his aspirations for a career in education.