On September 24, 2003, 17-year-old Aaron Rollins, a senior at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minnesota, was shot inside the school and died after being struck in the neck. Rollins was described as upbeat and friendly and was remembered at his funeral at St. Boniface Catholic Church by family and community members who came together to mourn.

The shooter was a 15-year-old freshman, Jason McLaughlin, who fired a handgun inside the school and also wounded a 14-year-old student, Seth Bartell, who later died of his injuries. Investigators determined Rollins was not the intended target and was an accidental victim. School staff intervened and took the shooter into custody at the scene.

McLaughlin was arrested and charged with murder, tried as an adult, and convicted: second-degree murder in Rollins’s death and first-degree murder in Bartell’s death. Sentences included life in prison for the first-degree conviction and a consecutive 12-year term for the second-degree conviction. Does anyone have memories of Aaron or information about that day to share?