The 16-year-old girl shot at school this week in Maryland was taken off of life support and died.
Jaelynn Willey was shot by another student, who was also ultimately killed. Authorities said that Austin Rollins, 17, entered a hallway at Great Mills High School and shot Willey and another classmate before being confronted by armed school resource officer Blaine Gaskill, who shot at Rollins.
“On Tuesday this past week, our lives changed completely and totally forever,” Willey’s mother, Melissa Willey, said, reported ABC News. “My daughter was hurt by a boy, who shot her in the head.”
Willey was rushed to the local hospital before being transferred to UM Prince George’s Hospital Center.
However, she was brain-dead the entire time.
“She will not make it,” her mother said. “We will be taking her off life support this evening.”
The teenager died at 11:34 p.m., the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office told The Associated Press.
The other student shot, a 14-year-old boy, was treated and released.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement that he was heartbroken to hear of Willey’s death.
“It is with terribly broken hearts that we learn of the tragic news regarding Jaelynn Willey. There are no words adequate to express our compassion for her loving family and the entire Great Mills community,” he said.
It is with terribly broken hearts that we learn of the tragic news regarding Jaelynn Willey. There are no words adequate to express our compassion for her loving family and the entire Great Mills community. https://t.co/NwyEEc7lC5
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) March 23, 2018
Authorities said that Rollins targeted Willey after being in a relationship with her.
“All indications suggest the shooting was not a random act of violence. Rollins and the female victim had a prior relationship which recently ended,” the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Department said.
The handgun that Rollins used in the attack was legally owned by his father, according to the sheriff, reported The Baltimore Sun.
The sheriff didn’t indicate how Rollins gained access to the firearm.
Gaskill was credited with stopping the shooting from taking more lives, after running towards the gunshots and confronting Rollins.
“He’s behind me yelling at the boy, he’s telling him, ‘Put the gun down, put the gun down. We know you don’t want to hurt anybody else, put the gun down,’ then after the last time he said that, he shot him. You heard two shots,” student Isiah Tichenor, who witnessed the shooting, told WBAL.
Authorities still haven’t confirmed whether or not Gaskill’s bullet hit Rollins but said it either hit him or prompted the teenager to take his own life.
It was revealed after the shooting that Gaskill has confronted danger before, disarming an armed suspect before shots were fired.
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