18-Year-Old Shot Day After Graduation By Fellow Teen Who Thought Gun Was Unloaded: Police
A Tennessee teenager graduated from high school on Friday and was fatally shot the following day — allegedly by another teen, who told police he did not know the gun was loaded.
Eighteen-year-old Lily Basil, of Franklin, was killed on Saturday in a shooting that took place a day after she celebrated her graduation, Page High School principal Katie Hill said in a statement to HuffPost.
“Her smile lit up every room she entered,” Hill wrote. “Though she was newer to the Page community, she quickly embraced the Patriot spirit and was a friend to everyone she met.”
Matthew Roufail, 18, was arrested and charged with criminal homicide following the shooting, a spokesperson for the Franklin Police Department confirmed with HuffPost. His bond was set at $150,000.
According to an affidavit cited by local FOX affiliate WZTV, officers responded to a 911 caller who told said he was taking Basil to the hospital to treat a gunshot wound in her right shoulder. Police told him to pull over and wait for paramedics.
Basil was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, about 4 miles from where she was shot, according to the outlet. She was pronounced dead soon after.
A witness at the scene of the shooting identified the suspect as Roufail, who they said left to go to a different hospital, according to the outlet.
Roufail allegedly told police he shot Basil with an AR-15-style rifle he thought was unloaded, according to the Williamson Herald, a local news site. One witness told officers that Roufali had shot Basil with a .22-caliber rifle “in the trunk of his car.”
Basil’s family arranged a celebration of life ceremony at a local church on Friday.
Tennessee has one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the U.S., according to the gun control nonprofit Everytown, which cited the state’s permissive open-carry laws and a lack of background check requirements for those seeking to buy firearms.
