Killing of Kayla Rolland

Killing of Kayla Rolland
LocationMount Morris Township, Michigan, U.S.
DateFebruary 29, 2000; 24 years ago (2000-02-29)
10:29 a.m. (EST)
Attack type
Child-on-child homicide by shooting, manslaughter, school shooting
Weapon.32-caliber handgun
VictimKayla Renee Rolland, aged 6
BurialPine Grove Cemetery, Millington, Michigan
Perpetrator6-year-old male
MotiveResentment
ConvictedJamelle James (6-year-old male's uncle)
VerdictPleaded no contest
ConvictionsInvoluntary manslaughter
Sentence2 years and 5 months in prison

Kayla Renee Rolland (May 12, 1993 – February 29, 2000) was an American six-year-old girl from Mount Morris Township, Michigan, United States, who was fatally shot on February 29, 2000, by a six-year-old male classmate at Buell Elementary School in the Beecher Community School District. The boy had found the gun while living at his uncle's house; the house was a crack house where guns were frequently traded for drugs.

The killing drew worldwide attention due to the particularly young ages of the victim and the perpetrator: Rolland was the youngest school shooting victim in the United States until the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, and her assailant remains the youngest fatal school shooting perpetrator to date, and the second-youngest school shooting perpetrator in general. The boy was not charged with murder because of his age. Buell Elementary School closed in 2002 and was demolished in 2009.[1]

  1. ^ Five years after school shooting, Michigan community still in pain Sign on San Diego Retrieved on November 26, 2007 Archived March 12, 2005, at the Wayback Machine