Md. school shooting victim dies
Victim was target of gunman who had been in relationship
A teenage girl who was shot when a classmate opened fire inside their Maryland high school has died, authorities said Friday.
The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office said Jaelynn Willey died at 11:34 p.m. Thursday. Earlier that night, her family had said she would be taken off life support at the University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center. Melissa Willey told news reporters Thursday night that her daughter was brain dead and had “no life left in her.”
The mother, holding a young baby, said, “On Tuesday … our lives changed completely and totally forever. My daughter was hurt by a boy who shot her in the head and took everything from our lives.”
The teen was shot Tuesday by 17-year-old Austin Rollins at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County.
Rollins died after shooting Willey. A school resource officer got there within a minute and fired a shot at Rollins, but it’s not yet clear whether Rollins was killed by the officer’s bullet or took his own life.
The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that Rollins and the girl had been in a relationship that recently ended.
“All indications suggest the shooting was not a random act of violence,” police said in a statement.
Willey had been in critical condition at the hospital. A fundraising page to help her family has raised more than $77,000.
Jaelynn was one of nine siblings, her mother said. The shooting broke out just before classes were to begin Tuesday, according to the sheriff’s office.