WATERLOO, Iowa — Kyle Klingman is a high school friend of Eric Sinclair who was shot and injured Wednesday at Denver's East High School. Klingman remembers Sinclair as a wrestler who wasn't afraid to have fun.
Sinclair was one of two East High School staff members who were shot and injured by 17-year-old Austin Lyle. Lyle was later found dead in Park County just outside of Bailey.
"Eric is a fun guy, " Klingman said. "He is a guy who was the life of the party, always cracking jokes and always doing things his own way."
It is this personality that Kingman credits to Sinclair's success with students.
"You can see how he is able to connect to students and other people," Klingman said. "He has that connectability and that ability to just be friendly, and that ability to just engage people."
Sinclair's choice to become a teacher took his friend by surprise.
"In high school, I guess I wouldn't have seen him as a teacher," Klingman said. "Now that he is in it and you just see the skillset he has in it, you can see why he would be an effective teacher."
"He is a unique soul that really did things his way," Klingman said. "That was really his hallmark is that Eric was never going to do things traditional, he was always going to do things in a unique way. When you meet him you're going to come away feeling like you just had an interaction with someone who truly cares."
Sinclair remains in the hospital in serious condition at Denver Health as of Thursday morning.
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