A high school cheerleader who took a bullet when a crazed student started blasting away in her school is recovering from her injuries, her grateful uncle said this week.
Emma Nees, a freshman at Freeman High School near Spokane, was hospitalized Wednesday after police said classmate Caleb Sharpe, 15, pulled out a gun and started shooting outside a biology classroom.
“The unimaginable happened to my extended family yesterday when my beautiful 14-year-old great niece, Emma Nees, was wounded in a school shooting at Freeman HS, just south of Spokane,” her uncle, James Jacobson of San Antonio, Texas, said
“Emma is doing very well physically and will go home soon,” he added. “She is thoughtful, kind, and an excellent student. The other two victims are also stable. Emma and her family will be assisted by counselors to help deal with this. Any prayers will be welcomed.”
He posted two photos, one of his niece in her cheerleading uniform and the other from her hospital bed — smiling in each.
Student Sam Strahan, who tried to stop the shooting, was killed, and Jordyn Goldsmith and Gracie Jensen, best friends who both play volleyball players for the school, were also wounded, according to the Spokesman-Review. All three girls are in stable condition,
Sharpe — who loved the TV show “Breaking Bad” and posted videos of himself brandishing guns and simulating shootings on YouTube — was arrested following the shooting.
Police interviewed over 100 people to determine a motive for the attack and said the shooter was prompted by “a bullying type of situation.”
Students described the alleged shooter as “nice, funny and weird” and said he did not seem like “that person who had issues.”
He is being held in Spokane County’s juvenile detention center.