Oct. 27--Before opening fire on them and then killing himself, the shooter at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington state had texted his five victims asking them to join him at lunch, officials said Monday.
They were all at the same cafeteria table when freshman Jaylen Fryberg, 15, began firing a .40-caliber Beretta, Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary told reporters Monday afternoon. The gun was bought legally and registered by a family member, he said, adding that investigators were still trying to determine how Fryberg got the weapon.
Two of the students Fryberg shot have died. The other three remain hospitalized in critical to satisfactory condition.
Gia Soriano, 14, who was shot in the head, died Sunday at a hospital. The student who died the day of the shooting was identified Monday as Zoe R. Galasso, 14, by the county medical examiner's office.
Fryberg, a football player, died after shooting himself in the head, the medical examiner concluded Monday, calling his death a suicide. Trenary said Monday afternoon that there was no physical struggle between Fryberg and a teacher who intervened.
The investigation will last several months and might never turn up the motivation behind the shooting. "I don't know that the 'why' is something we can provide," Trenary said.
"We are devastated by this senseless tragedy," Soriano's family said in a statement Sunday night. "Gia is our beautiful daughter and words cannot express how much we will miss her. We've made the decision to donate Gia's organs so that others may benefit. Our daughter was loving, kind and this gift honors her life."
The news of Soriano's death came after about 3,000 students and parents gathered for a community meeting in the high school's gym Sunday, with the district unsure when the school might reopen for its 1,200 students. The school is expected to remain closed through at least Friday, and potentially longer.
Aaron Toso, a spokesman for the Marysville School District, told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that "we don't know yet the plan for moving ahead with classes ... [There's] not a firm plan of how we're going to reopen the school."
On Monday morning, Nate Hatch, 14, who suffered a wound to the jaw, was upgraded to satisfactory condition and was awake and breathing on his own, according to Harborview Medical Center officials in Seattle.
Andrew Fryberg, 15, the shooter's cousin, was still in critical condition at Harborview on Monday morning, as was Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
The shooting began at 10:39 a.m. Friday, when police say Jaylen Fryberg opened fire near the school's cafeteria. His Twitter account suggested he'd been troubled by a recent breakup. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the motive Monday morning.
Schools in the rest of the Marysville School district were expected to observe a moment of silence at 10:39 a.m. Monday, to mark the moment of the shooting, before continuing on with classes.
A "number of schools" in the district had gone on lockdown on the day of the shooting, Toso told The Times, but officials decided to keep moving ahead with classes at the other campuses Monday.
"We've been hearing loud and clear from students that they want to get back to school, back to routine and back to friends," Toso said.
On Sunday, leaders of the city of Marysville and of the local Tulalip Tribes -- of which Jaylen Fryberg had been a member -- released a statement promising unity.
"When one tragedy impacts the Marysville and Tulalip communities and the people who call this area home, we all suffer, and we stand together in times of crisis," Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring said in the statement. "We live, work and play together, and as time goes by we will heal together."
Tulalip Tribes Chairman Herman Williams Sr., added, "Our priority is now on our children and young people."
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UPDATE
2:58 p.m.: This post has been updated to included new details on the events leading up to the shooting.
This post originally published at 10:56 a.m.
