The father of a 16-year-old girl who was gunned down at her Nashville high school on Wednesday was still struggling to accept the tragedy as night fell.
German Corea said he never would have imagined his eldest daughter, Josselin Corea Escalante, wouldn’t return home after attending classes at Antioch High School.
But shortly after 11am, Escalante became the only victim of 17-year-old Solomon Henderson’s attack, with police saying the suspect ‘confronted’ her before he fired multiple rounds with a pistol, which he then turned on himself.
‘It’s not fair,’ Corea told News Channel 5 of his daughter’s untimely death.
The grieving father had earlier been seen leaving a local hospital with tears in his eyes, according to WSMV.
‘Every day I told her how much I loved her,’ he said of his daughter, whom he said always brought home good grades, and was kind and loving.
Escalante was the older sister, Corea noted, but she was still his little girl.
Her aunt Maria Corea also said the family was left devastated and at a loss for words following the shooting.
Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, was the only victim of the Antioch High School shooting
Family members described Escalante as a kind and loving daughter, who received good grades in school
‘She was a very calm girl and well-behaved,’ Maria said. ‘She had good grades in school. She was a girl who loved her parents and all her family.’
Another student was also injured with a graze wound to her arm, and was rushed to Vanderbilt University Hospital in stable condition.
Police also said a fourth boy was being treated for an injury to the face caused during the commotion, but they were not shot, Channel 5 reports.
It remains unclear whether Escalante was specifically targeted in the attack at the school, but a disturbing manifesto allegedly written by the school shooter suggests he may have been motivated to commit the deadly act out of racism.
He even livestreamed the carnage, and apparently advised other would-be shooters to film and photograph their attacks.
‘An image shows what we’re capable of, a video shows what it will look like, a livestream with a GoPro shows what it will feel like,’ the manifesto claimed.
Nashville police have not yet confirmed whether the manifesto was Henderson’s, but Chief John Drake noted there were online materials that the police department is investigating.
‘There are some materials on the Internet that we’re looking at, that’s under investigation,’ he said, according to The Tennessean.
‘We believe there’s some materials out there, and maybe they were seen,’ he continued, adding that if someone ‘said something, maybe more could have been done.’
Solomon Henderson, 17, opened fire shortly after 11am, firing multiple rounds with a pistol before taking his own life
Jaden Ames, 17, a student at Antioch High School, embraces Jackie Gomez during a vigil at Hamilton United Methodist Church in Tennessee
Escalante’s family, meanwhile, says more needs to be done to protect students at Antioch High School.
They said it is always the same story with any school shooting, and they doubt anything will change.
Adrienne Battle, the superintendent of Nashville schools, also noted that the district had already implemented a ‘range of safety measures’ including partnerships with the police for school resource officers, security cameras with weapon-detection software, shatter-resistant film for glass and security vestibules that provide a barrier between visitors and the main entrance.
‘Unfortunately, these measures were not enough to stop this tragedy,’ she lamented.
Battle also acknowledged that there were questions about installing metal detectors.
‘While past research has shown they have had limitations and unintended consequences, we will continue to explore emerging technologies and strategies to strengthen school safety.’
Antioch High School will now remain closed for the rest of the week.
