Montgomery County teen sentenced to state prison for attempted murder in classmate’s shooting

A Montgomery County teen who shot a classmate during a dispute in 2019 has been sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison, prosecutors said Thursday.

Raul Castro, 17, pleaded guilty in October to attempted first-degree murder, recklessly endangering another person, and firearms offenses. He was sentenced Wednesday during a hearing in front of Chester County Judge Jeffrey R. Sommer.

Castro’s attorney, Ryan Grace, said he is “shell-shocked by remorse.”

“He felt he was the victim of bullying, and he is absolutely ashamed that he reacted this way,” Grace said.

On a weekend in late March 2019, Castro, then 15, got into an argument with a 14-year-old Pottsgrove Senior High School classmate, police said at the time. The two teens were initially friends but had a falling-out and planned to meet for a “real fight” in the future, authorities said. What caused the break in the friendship was not clear.

After school on April 1, 2019, the pair walked to an abandoned rail bridge in East Coventry Township, according to investigators. There, Castro pulled out a 9mm handgun registered to his grandfather and shot the other teen in the stomach and collarbone, police said. He fled the scene but was arrested a short time later.

Castro told police he “tried to help” the victim by putting pressure on his gunshot wounds, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. Of the shooting, according to the affidavit, he said that he “felt bad after [he] did it.”