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Great Mills High School Reopens For First Time After Deadly Shooting

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Great Mills High School in St. Mary's County reopened Tuesday for the first time since a targeted shooting that took two lives.

The shooting occurred the morning of March 20.

Students at Great Mills attended the March For Our Lives rally on March 24, just days later. The rally pushed for stricter gun control laws in the wake of recent school shootings throughout the country.

RELATED: Maryland Students Rocked By Recent Shooting Head To Rally

Jaelynn Willey, 16, was shot in the head and killed by Austin Rollins, 17. Rollins then shot and killed himself with a glock handgun legally owned by his father.

The sheriff's office said Willey had a relationship with Rollins that had recently ended.

RELATED: Sheriff: Great Mills School Shooter Died From Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

Another student, Desmond Barnes, was shot in the leg by the same bullet that killed Willey. Investigators say the bullet that hit Willey ricocheted and struck the 14-year-old in the leg, but he survived.

"I don't feel that safe, but still, got to come to school I guess," said Imer Norales who's a friend of Barnes. "Yeah it's kind of hard to still come to school because we're like still kind of scared that something like that can happen again."

"Honestly, it's kind of nice to see like the community showing support for everybody," said student Carlos Campion. "I very much appreciate all of that."

The school also brought in therapy dogs for the students Tuesday.

"I can't even drive by the school without bursting into tears," said Suzzi Copeland, whose son played football with Barnes and had English class with Willey. "Now my child always gonna go to school looking over his shoulder to make sure nobody has a gun."

Willey's funeral was held on Friday, March 30. She was taken off life support by her parents two days after the shooting.

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