![Vigils and funerals should not have to be held because another child is lost to school gun violence. - [Image via Pixabay / Silvia & Frank]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2018/3/23/660x290/b_502x220x82/vigils-and-funerals-should-not-have-to-be-held-because-another-child-is-lost-to-school-gunviolence-image-via-pixabaysilvia-frank_1902995.jpg "Vigils and funerals should not have to be held because another child is lost to school gun violence. - [Image via Pixabay / Silvia & Frank]")
On Tuesday (Mar. 20) CNN reported that two students from Great Mills, a town in southern Maryland, were shot Tuesday (Mar. 20) when the 17-year-old gunman, Austin Wyatt Rollins, entered Great Mills High School, proceeded to hallway F and opened fire on 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey. The bullet that hit the girl was thought to also be responsible for the second student, a 14-year-old male, being shot.
The School Resource Officer (SRO), a SWAT-trained Deputy First Class Officer, hurried to the scene, confronted the shooter and discharged his weapon simultaneously with the shooter.
Later that day in a press briefing, Sheriff Tim Cameron of St. Mary's County said it was unclear if Officer Gaskill’s bullet ended Rollins’ life or if it was self-inflicted. This was brought into question after it was found that the officer did not sustain any injuries and was unharmed.
All of the injured were rushed to nearby medical facilities to be treated for their wounds, which is where the gunman was pronounced dead just hours later. The 14-year-old boy, who was shot in the thigh, was released from the hospital Wednesday (March 21) and is resting comfortably at home. For Jaelynn, that is a different matter altogether.
Jaelynn Willey was taken off life support Thursday night (March 22) and passed away shortly after 11:30 PM ET, according to reports from FOX News.
She was surrounded by her grieving family who is still trying to make sense of the heinous act.
Jaelynn was one of nine siblings and said to had been a happy 16-year-old who was smart, friendly, funny, an athlete on the swim team, and just loved water sports. She had a bright future ahead of her and it was cut short by malice and piercing metal.
Closure?
Investigators spent the better part of the week collecting evidence to put the pieces of the story together. The biggest question on everyone’s mind was "why?" Well, it has now been confirmed that Austin and Jaelynn had just ended a relationship, and there were hurt feelings as a result. In the state of Maryland, the law states that gun purchasers must be 21 years of age to buy a firearm.
Police confirmed that the weapon used in this senseless killing was registered to and owned by Austin’s father. It appears the teen did not buy the gun but got the weapon from his home and launched focused intent to carry out his plans.
Now that authorities know this was not a random shooting, but one of pointed revenge, more questions are sure to surface around the gun control debate.There are no words to say in moments such as these, but Jaelynn's parents can take comfort in knowing that their daughter's life will not be in vain--because the kids from Parkland and millions of supporters are all over it!
Real life X-Men
History was made Saturday (Mar. 24) when tens of thousands of teens, parents, teachers, community members, and lawmakers took to the streets for the "March For Our Lives" march.
Major cities across the US were flooded with varied cadences and fists pumping the air marking the rise of change.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) students of Parkland have been leading the #NeverAgain movement in response to their school being massacred on Valentine’s Day this year. It was a deadly mass school shooting that left 17 of their friends, and teachers and coaches dead.
As America has seen in recent weeks, gun violence in our schools has not stopped. There has even been a shooting by a teacher from Georgia who chose to bring a firearm to school and shoot up his classroom. Luckily, no students were present, and no one was hurt. One of the continual messages of the #NeverAgain movement and Saturday's march has been protecting one's human right to live unafraid.
However, guns continue to find their way into the hands of incendiary teens who are killing other teens. At the march, through unspoken word, one group of student protestors proposed an answer to the problem.
Cameras panning the crowd of protestors during the media's coverage showed posters proudly suggesting the abolishment of the 2nd amendment among other messages that bobbed and bounced to the rhythmic chants. It is an attention-getter and idea that law-abiding gun owners and the National Rifle Association (NRA) surely hate.
Whether it's the NRA, right-wing, or left-wing partisanship, no elected lawmaker can turn a deaf ear or blind eye to the outpour and the turning of the tides. Nor can they reject the cries of the mothers and fathers who have had to bury their babies.
Like the families who have been personally touched by this epidemic, one can only hope that Capitol Hill is just as affected. The need to find resolve and continue healthy discussions at the federal level cannot be overstated.
As America stands tall, March For Our Lives has now taken its rightful place next to the women suffrage protests of the 1900s, the civil rights protests of the 1960s, the Million Man March of 1995, and the Women’s March of 2017. If Trump and Congress thought these kids would go away because small steps have been made, think again. The teen leaders are here to stay. They are committed to moving the hands of justice so that bulletproof vests aren’t part of a child’s back-to-school supply list.
