Authorities in Pennsylvania say a teen was shot in the head and died early the morning after her high school’s senior prom.
According to the New York Post, 18-year-old Morgan Dunston had skipped the dance and was outside in a parking lot at about 3 a.m. on Friday when the fatal shot rang out.
“Someone came up from behind and started shooting and my baby got shot,” said mother Angie Krimm, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
She said her other twin daughter is dealing with unimaginable grief instead of looking forward to the siblings’ graduation day later this week.
“She feels like, ‘If I go on and live my life, I am leaving my sister behind,” Krimm said. “And I said, ‘Jordyn, you have to do it for her. Because that’s what she would want you to do.'”
Instead of walking across the stage to accept her McKeesport Area High School diploma on Thursday, loved ones are planning a funeral for Morgan set for the following day. The teen was prepared to attend Slippery Rock University, which had offered her a full scholarship.
The pastor of a church near the scene said his “heart is really just concerned with the victim and what happened with whoever was here.”
Several windows in the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community Church were also broken by bullets during the shooting.
A police spokesperson confirmed the incident is being investigated as a homicide. Krimm, who will be accepting Morgan Dunston’s diploma on her behalf, made it clear she does not believe her daughter played in role in the violence that cost her life.
“She wasn’t in a gang. She wasn’t with the wrong crowd. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to enjoy life.”
Her family has established an online fundraiser to aid with funeral expenses.
[Featured image: Morgan Dunston, Facebook]
