Tenn. School Shooting Victim Identified as 'Kind and Loving' 16-Year-Old Girl

Mar. 15, 2025

Josselin Corea Escalante.

The 16-year-old girlkilled in a shootingat a Tennessee high school on Wednesday has been identified.

Josselin Corea Escalante was one of two students shot after a 17-year-old student boy opened fire in the cafeteria of Antioch High School in Nashville on the morning of Jan. 22, according to a Wednesdaystatementfrom the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.

Corea Escalante was pronounced dead at a local hospital while the other student was expected to survive after being grazed in the arm, police said. The gunman, identified as Solomon Henderson, then fatally shot himself.

Corea Escalante is remembered as a “kind and loving” girl who played soccer and got good grades, her family toldNews Channel 5 Nashville.

“It’s not fair," the teenager’s father, German Corea, told the outlet in Spanish of his daughter’s death.

Police say they are investigating “concerning on-line writings and social media posts” connected to Henderson as they work to establish a motive for the shooting.

“The investigation to this point has not established a connection between Henderson and the two shooting victims,” Nashville police said in their Wednesday statement.

A memorial outside Antioch High School.George Walker IV/AP Photo

George Walker IV/AP Photo

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Dr. Adrienne Battle, the director of Metro Nashville Public Schools, called the shooting tragic and said the school will be closed for the rest of the week to give the students and staff time to grieve.

“This is a heartbreaking day for the entire Antioch High School community and all of us in Nashville Public Schools,” Battle said in a statement shared on theschool’s website.

“My heart goes out to the families of our students as they face unimaginable loss. I want to thank the school staff who quickly and heroically followed emergency protocols, potentially preventing further harm, as well as the Metro Nashville Police Department and Nashville Fire Department for their swift and urgent response.”

Antioch, Tenn., is located roughly 17 miles southeast of Nashville’s city center. Antioch High School has roughly 2,000 students, according to the Metro Nashville Public School District’swebsite.

source: people.com