On a Tuesday morning in March 2018, the hallways of Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland, became the scene of a tragedy that would cut short the life of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey. A female sophomore and a member of the school's swim team, Jaelynn was described as a vibrant and sweet teenager who was an honor roll student. She was the second oldest of nine siblings and was known for her love of family and friends.
The ordinary school day took a devastating turn when
17-year-old Austin Rollins, a fellow student, opened fire in a hallway just before classes were set to begin. Using a Glock semiautomatic handgun that belonged to his father, Rollins shot Jaelynn in the head. Investigators later revealed that Rollins and Willey had been in a relationship that had recently ended, and the shooting was not a random act of violence. During the incident, a 14-year-old male student, Desmond Barnes, was also shot in the leg but survived.
Within a minute of the shooting, a school resource officer, Deputy First Class Blaine Gaskill, responded and confronted Rollins. Gaskill fired a single shot at the gunman as Rollins simultaneously fired his own weapon. The investigation later concluded that Rollins died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, while the officer's shot struck the gun in Rollins' hand. Because the suspect took his own life at the scene, no arrests were made in connection with Jaelynn's death.
Jaelynn Willey was critically injured in the attack and was transported to the University of Maryland Prince George's Hospital Center. She was declared brain dead, and two days after the shooting, on March 22, 2018, her family made the difficult decision to remove her from life support. She died surrounded by her loved ones. In the wake of the tragedy, Jaelynn's family filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging that they had failed to protect their daughter after being warned about Rollins' increasingly aggressive behavior towards her.
