Parents sue school after daughter was shot dead by ex-boyfriend in hall

Officials ‘could have prevented this tragedy’, claim lawyers

Emergency responders on the scene of the shooting at Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland on 20 March 2018 (Getty)

The parents of a Maryland teenager who was fatally shot at her high school have sued St Mary's County school officials, alleging that they knew the threat posed by her ex-boyfriend and failed to protect her.

“Great Mills High School could have prevented this tragedy,” the parents' lawyers wrote in litigation filed on Friday at the US District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland.

On the morning of 20 March 2018, Austin Rollins, 17, walked into the school armed with a 9mm handgun, tracked down his ex-girlfriend, Jaelynn Willey, 16, and shot her in the head, according to police. The bullet struck a second student, 14 years old, in the leg.

Within three minutes, a St Mary's sheriff's deputy working as a school resource officer confronted Rollins. The deputy and Rollins fired their weapons at roughly the same time. Rollins shot himself in the head, according the sheriff's office, while the deputy's round hit the gun held by the teenager.

In their lawsuit, Jaelynn's parents assert that before the shooting, school personnel had seen Rollins “grab, push and yell at” their daughter.

“Rollins would stalk the decedent around school, waiting for her directly outside of classrooms,” attorneys Lauren Geisser, Lauren Bell and Kathleen McClernan wrote in the litigation, adding that “Rollins would frequently grab decedent by the wrists, in school, causing her excruciating pain”.

In a statement on Tuesday, the St Mary's school system said the shooting could not have been predicted.

“The death of Jaelynn Willey was a tragedy and the entire school community mourns her loss,” the statement said. “However, the contention that school staff could have somehow prevented this tragedy is incorrect. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that any employee of the St Mary's County Public Schools had any reason to foresee the tragic shooting that took place.”

The shooting, inside a school about 70 miles southeast of Washington, thrust St Mary's County into the national debate over whether schools should arm teachers or add more armed security on campuses. The shooting occurred days before thousands rallied in Washington and throughout the country to protest gun violence, sparked by the shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead at a high school.

The lawsuit, earlier reported by Southern Maryland News, also contends that in the months leading up to the shooting, Jaelynn's parents had told a coach at the school that “they were concerned about their daughter's well-being” as it related to Rollins.

Additionally, the school “had metal detecting wands at its disposal, which it chose not to use,” and was equipped with “limited surveillance cameras that it chose not to watch nor pay attention to”, according to the lawsuit.

The Washington Post