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Authorities now say that a student in Maryland who fatally shot a fellow classmate and seriously hurt another died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a confrontation with a school resource officer.

Initial reports suggested that Deputy First Class Blaine Gaskill, the resource officer at Great Mills High School, in Great Mills, Md., might have killed the shooter, 17-year-old Austin Rollins.

 issued by the St. Mary's County sheriff's office said evidence indicates that last Tuesday, after Rollins fired a single shot that hit one student in the head and another in the leg, he was confronted in a hallway by Gaskill.


Rollins, however, then "fired one fatal shot to his head; simultaneously DFC Gaskill also fired one non-fatal shot, which struck the weapon in Rollins' hand," it said.



One of the two students hit by Rollins, 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey, 

died two days later after being taken off life support.

 The 14-year-old with the leg wound survived.


"All indications suggest the shooting was not a random act of violence," the sheriff's office said in the statement. "Rollins and the female victim had a prior relationship which recently ended. The investigation has not yet uncovered any public social media posts/threats made by Rollins."

Crime, Law and Justice

Initial reports following the incident at Great Mills High School suggested that a school resource officer might have killed the shooter.

Sheriff: Assailant in Maryland school shooting died from self-inflicted wound

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