Gunfire erupted in the hallways of a high school in southern Maryland on Tuesday during the latest school shooting to rock the nation.
The attack occurred in the morning shortly after classes had begun for the day at Great Mills High School - about 90 miles south of Baltimore - when suspected gunman, 17-year-old student Austin Wyatt Rollins, opened fire on two students. Both students are being treated for their injuries, with one in critical condition.
As for the alleged gunman, he was also shot and pronounced dead at a hospital several hours later. It's unclear whether the shooter took his own life or if he was killed by a school resource officer who engaged him with gunfire.
“This is what we train for. This is what we prepare for and this is what we pray we never have to do,” said St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron. “And on this day we realized our worst nightmare that our greatest asset — our children — were attacked in a bastion of safety and security, one of our schools.”
The incident went down at 7:55 a.m. when Rollins fired a Glock 9mm at a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy in a hallway of the school. Rollins reportedly once had some kind of relationship with the girl.
Deputy First Class Blaine Gaskill, the school's resource officer, responded quickly to the scene and engaged Rollins, who "almost simultaneously" fired his own weapon.
The girl was in critical condition at a local hospital, while the boy was in good condition at a separate hospital.
