Hundreds of people lined the hallways of an Alabama hospital to pay their final respects to a young cheerleader who was taken off life-support after being shot.
Kimber Mills, 18, of Cleveland, was one of four people who were hit with bullets close to a highway near Palmerdale on Saturday.
On Tuesday evening she was given an honor walk through UAB Hospital as she headed into surgery to become an organ donor after being declared brain dead.
Footage of the emotional moment showed hundreds of people lining the corridors of the facility as Mills lay in her hospital bed surrounded by soft toys and her loved ones.
The lines of people seemed almost endless as she passed through the hospital, many of those who gathered had tears in their eyes.
Her family said doctors had told them her injuries were so severe she would not survive after she suffered gunshot wounds to the head and leg on Saturday night.
The Daily Mail spoke with her sister Ashley Mills who said her heart was donated to a seven-year-old boy in Ohio and her lungs went to a woman in New York.
‘We feel grateful she was able to live on, she loved everyone. We are so grateful that she had a huge impact on peoples lives’, Ashley said.
The lines of people seemed almost endless as she passed through the hospital, many of those who gathered had tears in their eyes
Mills, 18, of Cleveland, was one of four people who were hit with bullets close to a highway near Palmerdale on Saturday
Speaking at a vigil held at her high school Monday night, Ashley added: ‘We shouldn’t be burying our little sister.
‘It should be the other way around. It’s supposed to go from oldest to youngest not youngest first.
‘She wanted to do things that I wanted to that I wasn’t able to, like be a nurse, help people and that’s exactly what she was trying to do that night… just help.’
Steven Tyler Whitehead, 27, was arrested following the shooting and was charged with three counts of attempted murder, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
The group were shot after a fight allegedly broke out. Kimber’s family says she did not know Whitehead.
Ashley told WBRC: ‘He was trying to hit on a girl there and give her things that she didn’t want,’ in an apparent reference to a spiked drink.
‘We hope he gets what he deserves,’ she added.
The shooting happened on a patch of private property known as ‘the pit’ where local teenagers gather to hang out and listen to music.
Kimber was a well-liked cheerleader at Cleveland High School who aspired to become a nurse, her sister Ashley said
Silas McCay, 21, was also shot at the party but managed to get up and walk behind Mills as she was wheeled into surgery, his brother told CBS.
‘It was emotional,’ Shane McCay said. ‘As soon as she turned that corner, the whole hallway crying. You can tell she was really loved by the whole community.’
Shane added that his brother is ‘doing pretty well.’ ‘He got shot ten times and he’s already up out of bed walking.’ Another shooting victim remains in hospital.
Dispatch recordings obtained by ABC3340 described a young woman who had been shot in the head.
A GoFundMe page initially set up to raise cash for Kimber will reportedly be also used to help the other victims of the shooting.
This is a breaking news story.
