Police: Maryland school shooter used father’s handgun
Teen’s ex-girlfriend, 16, one of two victims, is still hospitalized
GREAT MILLS, Md. — A teenager used his father’s legally owned handgun in an attack inside his high school in Maryland, police said Wednesday.
Austin Rollins, 17, was killed Tuesday morning at Great Mills High School when a school resource officer fired off a shot at the attacker. It was not yet clear whether Rollins took his own life with his father’s semi-automatic Glock or was killed by the officer’s bullet.
Investigators with the St. Mary’s County sheriff’s office said Rollins shot a 16-year-old girl in a hallway within minutes of entering the school. Rollins and the girl had recently ended a relationship.
“All indications suggest the shooting was not a random act of violence,” police said in a statement.
A 14-year-old boy who was shot in the thigh was released Wednesday from a hospital, while the girl, Jaelynn Willey, was still fighting for her life at the University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center.
The area where the shooting took place is in St. Mary’s County, with a population of about 110,000. The coastal swath of southern Maryland is about 65 miles from Washington, D.C., and many families have military ties.
Attempts to reach the shooter’s family were unsuccessful.
A day after the gun violence in one of the sleepy community’s schools, the few residents who ventured out amid a snowstorm praised the school resource officer who responded inside of 60 seconds and fired off a shot at the attacker.
“He did a very, very good job,” said Sharon Eglinton, manager of a cafe in nearby Leonardtown.
St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron credited Deputy First Class Blaine Gaskill with preventing any more loss of life.
Cameron said Gaskill, a six-year veteran with SWAT team training, responded within a minute and fired his weapon simultaneously with a final shot fired by Rollins. The officer was unharmed.
Gaskill was praised a couple of years ago after a Maryland man was accused of confronting him with a gun at an apartment in an incident captured on body camera video. Gaskill can be heard in the video giving several commands to drop the gun before the man eventually complies.