HILLSBOROUGH - Prosecutors may pursue the death penalty against the Orange County teenager accused of killing his father and then attempting a foiled Columbine-style attack on his former high school in August.

Orange-Chatham District Attorney James Woodall has filed a notice requesting a hearing that is a required initial step in death penalty cases.

Having such a hearing doesn't necessarily mean that Woodall will seek the death penalty against Alvaro Rafael Castillo, 19.

Castillo is accused of shooting his father to death in the family's home and then driving the family mini-van to Orange High School with two guns, ammunition and explosives.

According to the sheriff's office, Castillo set off fireworks or a smokeless grenade in the parking lot and opened fire. He was subdued by a student resource officer and a driver's education teacher who was also a retired Highway Patrolman and reserve officer in the sheriff's office.

Two students were injured: one by broken glass, and one by a bullet that grazed her shoulder, according to arrest warrants.

After the school shootings, sheriff's deputies went to the Castillo family home and found Rafael Huezo Castillo dead on a living room couch.

Castillo was charged with first-degree murder, as well as several other felony charges related to the school shooting.

Four months before the shooting, Castillo had been treated for having suicidal thoughts, and anti-depressants were found in his home after the August school shooting. In a letter and videotape mailed to The Chapel Hill News just before the shooting, Castillo said he was crazy and wanted to die.

In Orange County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon, attorneys scheduled the hearing for the fourth week of January. Castillo was not in court, but Public Defender James Williams, his court-appointed attorney, said Castillo is "extremely depressed" and a suicide risk.

He is being held without bail at Raleigh's Central Prison.