Six-year-old Kayla Renee Kay Kay Rolland was killed at Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan, on February 29, 2000. A classmate of the same age brought a .32-caliber handgun to school, told Kayla I don’t like you while students climbed a stairwell, and fired a single shot that struck her right arm and severed a vital artery. She was taken to Hurley Medical Center and pronounced dead at 10:29 a.m.

The boy who fired the shot lived in a chaotic home environment and had been staying with his uncle, where guns were reportedly exchanged for drugs; he had found the handgun there. Because Michigan law presumed a child that young incapable of forming criminal intent, he was not criminally charged. The uncle, Jamelle James, was charged, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to two to fifteen years; a search of his home turned up another loaded shotgun and crack cocaine. He was paroled after serving two years and five months.

Kayla’s death became a focal point in national discussions about gun access and school safety. If anyone knew Kayla or has information about the circumstances that allowed a firearm into that home, please come forward.