Mourners gather at funeral for 16-year-old girl gunned down at her Maryland high school

The shooting at Great Mills High School left one victim dead and another hurt.

March 30, 2018, 10:28 AM

Friends and family of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey gathered at her funeral service this morning after the teen was gunned down at her Maryland high school.

PHOTO: Friends and family of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey have gathered at her funeral service this morning after the teen was gunned down at her Maryland high school.
Friends and family of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey have gathered at her funeral service this morning after the teen was gunned down at her Maryland high school.

On March 20, Willey was in a hallway at Great Mills High School when she was shot once in the head, allegedly by 17-year-old Austin Rollins, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office said. A 14-year-old boy was also injured in the leg from the shooting.

Rollins was confronted by a school resource officer and fatally shot himself in the head, the sheriff's office said.

PHOTO: A law enforcement officer walks in front of Great Mills High School after a shooting on March 20, 2018, in Great Mills, Md.
A law enforcement officer walks in front of Great Mills High School after a shooting on March 20, 2018, in Great Mills, Md.

Two days after the shooting, Willey's mother tearfully announced her daughter would be taken off life support. Willey, the second-oldest of nine siblings, died hours later, surrounded by her family, the sheriff's office said.

PHOTO: This undated photo provided by the Willey family shows Jaelynn Willey.
This undated photo provided by the Willey family shows Jaelynn Willey.

Today's funeral began at 10 a.m. at the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department in Hollywood, Maryland. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is among those at the service, according to ABC affiliate WJLA.

PHOTO: Friends and family of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey have gathered at her funeral service this morning after the teen was gunned down at her Maryland high school.
Friends and family of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey have gathered at her funeral service this morning after the teen was gunned down at her Maryland high school.
PHOTO: Friends and family of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey have gathered at her funeral service this morning after the teen was gunned down at her Maryland high school.
Friends and family of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey have gathered at her funeral service this morning after the teen was gunned down at her Maryland high school.

A prayer service was also held there on Thursday.

Michelle Morren, whose daughter was friends with Willey, told The Baltimore Sun after the prayer service, “Everyone who ever came in contact with Jaelynn walked away thinking, ‘Wow, that was a beautiful soul.'"

Everyone at the service was given a card with Willey's "best ever" recipe for chocolate chip cookies, the Sun reported.

Willey and the suspected gunman "had a prior relationship which recently ended," the sheriff's office said. "All indications suggest the shooting was not a random act of violence."

St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron called the shooting "our worst nightmare."

"This is what we prepare for," he said. "And this is what we pray we never have to do."

PHOTO: A mother walks her daughter, a student from Great Mills High School, to the car as she picks her up from Leonardtown High School in Leonardtown, Md., March 20, 2018.
A mother walks her daughter, a student from Great Mills High School, to the car as she picks her up from Leonardtown High School in Leonardtown, Md., March 20, 2018.