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 Claire Davis was the only person wounded by gunfire when Karl
Pierson, an 18-year-old senior at Arapahoe High School in suburban
Denver, entered the school on December 13 and opened fire with a
shotgun, police said.
"Despite the best efforts of our physicians and nursing staff, and
Claire's fighting spirit, her injuries were too severe and the most
advanced medical treatments could not prevent this tragic loss of
life," Littleton Adventist Hospital posted on the facility's
official Facebook page.
Pierson shot Davis in the face at point-blank range as she sat
outside the library with a friend during in the 80-second rampage,
police said.
Pierson committed suicide in the library as an armed deputy
stationed at the school cornered him, police said.
He had targeted the school's debate coach and librarian, Tracy
Murphy, over a dispute the pair had, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson
Robinson said shortly after the attack.
Pierson acted in retaliation for discipline he received months ago
from Murphy, who escaped harm in the shooting, Robinson has said.
Students who knew Pierson said he was heavily involved in the speech
and debate club, until he was placed on some kind of restriction by
the coach.
Pierson came armed to create carnage at the 2,000-student school.
Aside from his 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, Pierson had 125 rounds
of steel-shot, buckshot and slug ammunition, a machete and three
Molotov cocktails, police said.
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In recent days, a number of prayer vigils were held for Davis, a
skilled equestrian, in her community. She had been in a coma after
the shooting.
"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," the Davis family said in a statement.
The shooting in the Denver suburb of Centennial occurred just eight
miles from Columbine High School, where in 1999 two teenagers shot
dead a teacher and 12 students before committing suicide.
(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; editing by Eric Walsh; and Sandra Maler)
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