{"id":41843,"date":"2025-10-23T19:57:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=41843"},"modified":"2025-10-23T19:57:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:57:40","slug":"students-line-up-to-say-goodbye-to-teen-on-life-support-after-being-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=41843","title":{"rendered":"Students line up to say goodbye to teen on life-support after being shot"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"main-content-bltb687d67542f09510\" class=\"content-template_leftColumnInner__Du7BU\">\n<div class=\"content-template_body__RWRhb\">\n<div style=\"display: contents;\">\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\"><strong>A tear-jerking video shows the moment a teenage girl was taken into surgery for organ donation <\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">On Sunday (October 19), 18-year-old Kimber Mills was shot in the head and leg when caught in a crossfire after a fight broke out at a bonfire she was attending in a wooded area of Pinson, <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unilad.com\/alabama\">Alabama<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Following the incident, 27-year-old Steven Tyler Whitehead was arrested, Jefferson County Sheriff&#8217;s Office confirmed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">According to those who were at the bonfire, nobody knew who Whitehead was. He arrived at around 12.24am on Sunday, Fox News <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/cheerleader-dies-after-being-shot-high-school-bonfire-remembered-having-spunk-her-step\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Three others were injured in the shooting and Whitehead was charged with three counts of attempted murder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">He has also now been charged with <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unilad.com\/crime\">murder<\/a>, as tragically Mills succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday (21 October) when she was taken off life support.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-image_articleImage__eyzAn\">\n<div class=\"article-image_imageWrapper__ANtPE\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block; margin: 1em auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/images.ladbible.com\/resize?type=webp&amp;quality=70&amp;width=3840&amp;fit=contain&amp;gravity=auto&amp;url=https:\/\/images.ladbiblegroup.com\/v3\/assets\/blt949ea8e16e463049\/blt3979173f476954fd\/68fa654872e06c44f7e4ae97\/Screenshot_2025-10-23_at_18.23.10.png\" alt=\"Kimber Mills sadly died at the age of 18 earlier this week (kmills_19\/Instagram)\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-nimg=\"fill\" \/><\/div>\n<p><cite class=\"image-credit_imageCredit__YMlqS\">Kimber Mills sadly died at the age of 18 earlier this week (kmills_19\/Instagram)<\/cite><\/div>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">On the day of her death an honor walk was held for the budding cheerleader. Hundreds of students from from Mills&#8217; <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unilad.com\/school\">school<\/a> lined the hallway of the hospital as she was wheeled into the operating theater to donate her organs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">According to her sister Ashley Mills, the 18-year-old had shared that she wanted to be an organ donor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">She <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-15217201\/cheerleader-packed-hospital-fatally-shot-stranger.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> the Daily Mail, Kimber&#8217;s heart was donated to seven-year-old boy and her lungs to a woman in New York.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">After graduating high school, Mills was going to to go university to become a nurse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Marilu Valdez, a classmate of Mills&#8217;, attended the honor walk and said it was heartbreaking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;It was really sad. It broke my heart to know someone as bright as her, beautiful smile, beautiful spirit could have gone through that,&#8221; she <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/abc3340.com\/newsletter-daily\/love-like-kimber-honor-walk-held-for-cleveland-high-school-senior-kimber-mills-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> ABC News.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jw-player_container__wuaGn\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\">\n<div class=\"jw-player_player__tBJrb\" data-type=\"jw-player\" data-testid=\"jw-player\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;Love like Kimber, and to take those moments you have with your loved ones and your friends and make the most of them. You never know what might happen,&#8221; Valdez added.<\/p>\n<div class=\"floating-video-player_container__u4D9_\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Blount County Schools shared a moving tribute to <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unilad.com\/facebook\">Facebook<\/a> in the wake of Mills&#8217; passing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;Our school district is deeply saddened today to learn of the passing of one of our students, Ms. Kimber Mills,&#8221; it <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BLOUNTBOE\/posts\/pfbid02Hc7y2Gw81CBycxu7qJUN8C8abYVpnoKFwDjVCuLPRk9DjcX1J4k8yXhANxHiP5Zsl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;Kimber was a bright, outgoing senior cheerleader for Cleveland High School. Kimber\u2019s smile and infectious personality will certainly be missed, but she will always be remembered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;Our heart is burdened for her family and for the impact this will have on the students, faculty, and staff at Cleveland High School.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">A <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unilad.com\/gofundme\">GoFundMe<\/a> page has been created for Mills&#8217; family where, at the time of writing, almost $28,000 has been raised. You can donate <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-kimber-mills-and-her-family?attribution_id=sl:13e7b0bf-7a82-4432-9fcc-65a1abd7f2bf&amp;lang=en_US&amp;ts=1760921838&amp;utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&amp;utm_content=amp17_ta&amp;utm_medium=customer&amp;utm_source=copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\"><em>If you or someone you know has been affected by gun violence, please find more information and support via Survivors Empowered on their <\/em><a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/survivorsempowered.org\/survivor-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>website<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><cite class=\"image-credit_imageCredit__YMlqS\">Featured Image Credit: kmills_19\/Instagram<\/cite><\/p>\n<p class=\"topics-list_topic__nSIGw\">Topics:\u00a0<a class=\"topics-list_tag__Ryb8j\" href=\"\/alabama\">Alabama<\/a>, <a class=\"topics-list_tag__Ryb8j\" href=\"\/crime\">Crime<\/a>, <a class=\"topics-list_tag__Ryb8j\" href=\"\/us-news\">US News<\/a>, <a class=\"topics-list_tag__Ryb8j\" href=\"\/gofundme\">GoFundMe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A tear-jerking video shows the moment a teenage girl was taken into surgery for organ donation On Sunday (October 19), 18-year-old Kimber Mills was shot in the head and leg &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41845,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41843\/revisions\/41845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}