Maryland school gunman died of self-inflicted gunshot, police say

A statement by police said gunman Austin Rollins shot himself in the head at about the same time the sheriff’s deputy shot at him, hitting his gun.

A self-inflicted gunshot wound, not a bullet fired by a sheriff’s deputy, killed a 17-year-old who had just shot another student at a Maryland high school last week, authorities have said.

A student from Maryland holds up a sign during a rally at the US Capitol to urge Congress to take action against gun violence, on March 14, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. It was one month ago today that a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (AFP)

Austin Rollins, a student at Great Mills High School, shot Jaelynn Willey, 16, with his father’s handgun in a hallway at the school last Tuesday, according to the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office.

Willey, who had been in a relationship with Rollins that had recently ended, died days later.

About three minutes after Rollins shot Willey, sheriff’s deputy Blaine Gaskill fired one round at him, striking his gun. At the same time, Rollins shot himself in the head, the sheriff said in a brief statement on Monday.

Rollins was wounded and died at a hospital. Gaskill was unharmed.

Desmond Barnes, a 14-year-old student, was struck in the leg by the same bullet that hit Willey, the sheriff said. Barnes was treated at a hospital and released a day after the shooting.

Led by survivors of a Florida high school shooting in February that claimed 17 lives, the marchers called on lawmakers and President Donald Trump to confront the issue after decades of shooting sprees at U.S. schools and colleges.