17 Shootings in 13 Weeks
April 4, 2018
On March 20th, the 17th school shooting in 2018 took place at Great Mills High School in Lexington Park, Maryland. Austin Rollins, a student at the school, shot two students before being shot down by school resource officer, Blaine Gaskill. One of the two students died two days later, after being put off life support. The other victim was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday with only a minor leg injury.
Austin Rollins was armed with a handgun and began shooting at 7:55 in the morning, right before classes started. Officer Blaine Gaskill reacted quickly and fired at the shooter in less than a minute. Rollins fired back but failed to hit Gaskill. Gaskill’s bullet hit Rollins’s gun and at the same time, Rollins shot himself in the head. Although Gaskill didn’t kill Rollins, he was praised for being quick and stopping the shooter from hurting any more people. Saint Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron said, “He responded exactly how we train our personnel to respond.”
The shooter injured 14-year old male Desmond Barnes in the leg and 16-year old female Jaelynn Willey in the head, who later passed away in the hospital. Willey was in a former relationship with the shooter that had recently ended. The Saint Mary’s County Sheriff’s office stated, “All indications suggest the shooting was not a random act of violence. Rollins and the female victim had a prior relationship that had ended.”
Jaelynn Willey died last Thursday. She was the second oldest out of nine siblings and was a member of the swim team at Great Mills. After being shot in the brain, she was in critical condition at the hospital until her family decided to take her off of life support. Willey’s mother told reporters that Jaelynn was “brain dead and has nothing, no life left in her.” According to her uncle, Timothy Cormier, Willey was “the most caring, thoughtful, sweet and beautiful young lady.” On his farewell post to her on Facebook, he writes, “Have fun swimming as fast as you can in those clouds! I love you and miss you for eternity. Until we meet again. Rest easy sweetheart.”
This past Saturday, people of all different ages, including students at Great Mills High School, marched in the March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C. According to marchforourlives.com, along with the march in Washington, there were more than 800 sibling marches across the world. Toddlers, youth, and adults marched for their rights and against gun violence. According to baltimoresun.com, Jaclyn Corin, one of the most outspoken leaders of the movement, tweeted, “We will march for you, Jaelynn Willey. We will march for all the students of Great Mills who will forever be traumatized because of what happened on Tuesday.”
