A
mother walks with her daughter, a
student from Great Mills High
School, as she picks her up from a
nearby high school in Leonardtown,
Maryland, on Tuesday. (Carolyn
Kaster/AP)
Sheriff:
Teenager
dead, 2
wounded
in
Maryland
high
school
By
MATTHEW
BARAKAT
and
JESSE J.
HOLLAND
APNews.com
GREAT
MILLS,
Md. - A
teenager
with a
handgun
shot a
girl
inside
his
Maryland
high
school
Tuesday
before
he was
fatally
wounded
during a
confrontation
with a
school
resource
officer,
a
sheriff
said.
It
wasn’t
immediately
clear
whether
the
shooter
took his
own life
or was
killed
by the
officer’s
bullet,
St.
Mary’s
County
Sheriff
Tim
Cameron
said.
The
16-year-old
girl was
hospitalized
with a
life-threatening
wound,
the
sheriff
said. A
14-year-old
boy also
suffered
a
gunshot
wound,
but it
wasn’t
clear
who shot
him. He
was in
stable
condition.
The
officer,
who
doubles
as a
SWAT
team
member,
was
unharmed.
Politicians
responded
swiftly,
acknowledging
that
this
shooting
increases
the
pressure
for
action
against
gun
violence
as anger
swells
nationwide
over the
Valentine’s
Day
killings
of 17
people
at a
Florida
high
school
by a
teenager
with an
assault
weapon.
However
in this
case, it
appeared
that the
shooter
had
illegally
possessed
the gun.
In
Maryland,
a person
must be
21 to
possess
a
handgun,
unless
carrying
one is
required
for
employment.
The
shooter
was
identified
17-year-old
Austin
Rollins.
Authorities
believe
he had a
prior
relationship
with the
girl but
a motive
wasn’t
immediately
clear.
A
shooting
at a
Maryland
high
school
Tuesday
morning
injured
three
people,
including
the
gunman.
Police
were
urging
relatives
to go to
a nearby
school
to
reunite
with
their
students
there.
Some
parents
expressed
exasperation.
(March
20)
The
sheriff
praised
the
officer,
Deputy
Blaine
Gaskill,
a
six-year
veteran
in his
first
year at
the high
school,
for
containing
the
situation
in less
than a
minute.
“He
had to
cover
significant
ground,”
Cameron
said.
“The
premise
is
simple:
You go
to the
sound of
gunfire.”
Agents
with the
FBI and
the
Bureau
of
Alcohol,
Tobacco,
Firearms
and
Explosives
joined
deputies
at Great
Mills
High
School
as
students
endured
a
lengthy
lockdown,
cowering
inside
classrooms
and a
locker
room
while
officers
worked
to make
sure
there
were no
more
threats
on
campus.
Police
eventually
kicked
in the
locker
room
door,
said
Ziyanna
Williams,
a
14-year-old
ninth-grader.
“They
came in
with
guns,
and they
probably
thought
there
might be
another
shooter,
of
course,”
she
said.
“About
an hour
or two
later
they
came --
more
police
came --
and told
us they
would
search
us and
search
our bags
and
stuff.”
Eventually,
the
students
were
escorted
outside.
The
school
has
about
1,600
students
and is
near the
Patuxent
River
Naval
Air
Station,
about 65
miles
(104
kilometers)
southeast
of
Washington.
On
Tuesday,
ambulances,
fire
trucks
and
other
emergency
vehicles
crowded
the
parking
lot and
the
street
outside,
where
about 20
school
buses
lined up
in the
rain to
take
students
to
nearby
Leonardtown
High
School
to be
picked
up by
their
parents.
Democratic
Rep.
Steny
Hoyer
said the
officer
at the
school
“answered
the call
this
morning
with
swiftness,
professionalism,
and
courage.”
He said
it’s now
for
Congress
to take
action.
“We
sympathize.
We
empathize.
We have
moments
of
silence.
But we
don’t
have
action,”
Hoyer
said.
“Wringing
our
hands is
not
enough.”
Sen.
Ben
Cardin,
D-Md.,
also
spoke to
reporters
near the
high
school,
saying
that at
a
minimum,
universal
background
checks
and a
ban on
assault-style
weapons
are
needed.
He said
he
believes
momentum
is
building
for
reform,
fueled
by
student
activism.
“I
can tell
you that
Americans
are
listening
to our
students.
I think
our
political
system
will
respond,”
he said.
Maryland’s
Senate
joined
the
House on
Monday
night to
ban bump
stocks,
which
enable a
semi-automatic
rifle to
mimic a
fully
automatic
weapon.
Teachers’
union
leaders
issued
statements
Tuesday
saying
more
policies
must be
changed
nationwide
to keep
schools
safe.
Republican
Gov.
Larry
Hogan,
meanwhile,
accused
the
Democrat-led
legislature
of
failing
to take
action
on “one
of the
most
aggressive
school
safety
plans in
the
country.”
Many
students
across
the
country
are
calling
for
effective
gun
controls,
leading
up to
Saturday’s
March
For Our
Lives
rally in
the
nation’s
capital
against
gun
violence
in
schools.
The
violence
hasn’t
abated
since
the
massacre
in
Parkland,
Florida.
A high
school
student
in
Birmingham,
Alabama,
was
killed
this
month
when a
classmate
fired a
gun
inside a
classroom.
Threats
against
schools
have
proliferated
as well,
and
Great
Mills
High has
not been
immune.
Just
last
month,
the
school’s
principal,
Jake
Heibel,
told
parents
in a
letter
posted
on the
local
news
site The
Bay Net
that two
students
were
interviewed
after
they
were
overheard
mentioning
a school
shooting,
and they
were
found to
pose no
threat.
Heibel
said the
school
increased
its
security
nevertheless
after
social
media
posts
about a
possible
school
shooting
“circulated
quite
extensively.”
Also
last
month,
St.
Mary’s
County
Sheriff’s
office
said it
arrested
two
teenage
boys for
“Threats
of Mass
Violence”
and a
39-year-old
man on
related
charges
after
the
teens
made
threats
about a
potential
school
shooting
at
Leonardtown
High
School,
a high
school
about 10
miles
from
Great
Mills.
Police
said
they
obtained
a search
warrant
that led
to them
finding
semi-automatic
rifles,
handguns
and
other
weapons,
along
with
ammunition.
“This is
what we
prepare
for and
this is
what we
pray we
will
never
have to
do,” the
sheriff
said
Tuesday.
“The
notion
that it
can’t
happen
here is
no
longer a
notion.”