Girl Wounded in Colorado High School Shooting Dies
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Photo By Karl Gehring/The Denver Post via Getty Images (CENTENNIAL, Colo.) — Claire Davis, the 17-year-old Colorado girl who was shot in the head in a shooting at her high school, has died, hospital officials said Saturday night.
“It is with heavy hearts that we share that at 4:29 p.m. this afternoon, Claire Davis passed away, with her family at her side,” a statement from Littleton Adventist Hospital Facebook said.
The girl’s family also posted a long statement on the hospital’s Facebook page, honoring their daughter and asking again that their privacy be respected.
“It is with unspeakable sadness that we write and say that Claire has passed away from the gunshot wound she received at Arapahoe High School on December 13, 2013,” the statement read. “Although we have lost our precious daughter, we will always be grateful for the indelible journey she took us on over the last 17 years—we were truly blessed to be Claire’s parents. The grace, laughter and light she brought to this world will not be extinguished by her death; to the contrary, it will only get stronger.
“Last week was truly a paradox in that we lost our daughter, yet we witnessed the wonderful love that exists in the world through the tremendous outpouring of support we received,” the statement continued. “We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the first responders, the school resource officer, security guard and vice principal at Arapahoe High School, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s office, and the physicians, nurses and staff at Littleton Adventist Hospital. Each played a significant role in giving Claire a chance to live, and demonstrated extreme amounts of professionalism, courage and love. Please know that we will never forget the extraordinary work you did on Claire’s behalf.
“We ask that you give us time to grieve the death of our daughter by respecting our wishes for privacy,” it concluded.
Davis, a senior at Arapahoe High School, was critically wounded when she was shot at point blank range by Karl Pierson on Friday, Dec. 13. She suffered severe head trauma in the shooting, according to the hospital.
Pierson, 18, was armed with a shotgun, machete and had Molotov cocktails in his backpack, police said.
According to police, Pierson was seeking “revenge” on the school’s debate team instructor, Tracy Murphy, who had dropped him from the team.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said when the shooter came upon her as he was looking for his intended target, Davis did not have a chance to escape.
“She is an innocent young lady, and she was an innocent victim of an evil act of violence,” Robinson said. “She probably was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
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