Another teen has succumbed to her injuries after the tragic shooing at Marysville-Pilchuck High School outside Seattle last week.
According to the Associated Press, 14-year-old Gia Soranio died from severe head trauma after she was shot by Jaylen Fryberg. Soriano was known to be a friend of the troubled teenager and possibly a link in Fryberg’s alleged love triangle with his ex-girlfriend and cousin.
Officials at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett confirmed the death of 14-year-old Gia Soriano. Another girl was killed during the shooting Friday by a popular freshman at Marysville-Pilchuck High School north of Seattle. The shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, died of a self-inflicted wound.
Three other students remain hospitalized, two in critical condition and one in serious condition.
At a news conference, Dr. Joanne Roberts read a statement from Gia’s family.
“We are devastated by this senseless tragedy. Gia is our beautiful daughter, and words cannot express how much we will miss her,” the statement said.
Roberts said Gia’s family was donating her organs for transplant.
Fryberg shot five of his classmates – Gia Soriano, 14, Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, Andrew Fryberg, 15, Nate Hatch, 14 – and another young woman who died at the scene. Nate and Andrew are said to be related to Jaylen.
Gia was described by friends and family as a sweet girl who was gone too soon.
Jaylen was also given the same description, while his social media accounts showed a teen broken by young love.
Prior to the shooting, Jaylen sent cryptic tweets about a breakup and made several threats to do something drastic.
Your gonna piss me off… And then some shits gonna go down and I don’t think you’ll like it…😤😤😤
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) August 20, 2014
His last tweet read:
It won’t last…. It’ll never last….
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) October 23, 2014
It is unknown which girl Jaylen was dating, but classmates have pointed out that the teen was previously in a two-year relationship with another girl who lived outside of town.
Nate, Andrew, and Shaylee are all under intensive care. Jaylen walked up to the teens from behind and shot some of them in the head and back.
Of the wounded students, only 14-year-old Nate Hatch showed improvement, though he remained in serious condition in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Fifteen-year-old Andrew Fryberg also remained in critical condition in intensive care. Both are cousins of Jaylen Fryberg.
Meanwhile, 14-year-old Shaylee Chuckulnaskit remained in critical condition in intensive care at Providence Regional Medical Center.
Matt Remle, an official at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, says he knew all the teens in the shooting well and cannot pinpoint what triggered Jaylen to take his life and the lives of others.
“We can’t answer that question,” said Matt Remle, who has an office at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, which is 30 miles north of Seattle. “But we try to make sense of the senselessness. They all were “really happy, smiling kids. They were a polite group. A lot of the kids from the freshman class were close-knit. Loving. These were not kids who were isolated. They had some amazing families, and have amazing families.”
He also says that many students have come to him to talk about the shooting.
“My office has been a comfort space for Native students,” he said. “Many will come by and have lunch there, including the kids involved in the shooting. These factors make the shooting that much more difficult to deal with, “Maybe it would be easier if we knew the answer,” Remle said. “But we may never know.”
We hope the victims’ families will find answers soon in this unfortunate tragedy.
SOURCE: AP, Think Progress | VIDEO CREDIT: News Inc.
