Rocori gym teacher tearfully recounts school shooting

Gym teacher Mary Kelsey broke into tears Thursday while recounting how she tried to comfort a mortally wounded student at Rocori High School.

Kelsey testified about the frantic efforts to revive Aaron Rollins, 17, whose shirt was soaked with blood from a gunshot wound. Kelsey and other teachers performed CPR on Rollins until paramedics arrived. One of those paramedics was Rollins' father, Tom.

Kelsey said the medic's first words were: "Goddamn it. What in the hell is going on here today?" Overcome, the father had to leave the scene, she said.

Her testimony came during the trial of John Jason McLaughlin, who's charged with killing Rollins, a senior, and freshman Seth Bartell, 14, at the school Sept. 24, 2003.

McLaughlin, now 16, shot Bartell once in the side, then fired another shot that struck Rollins near the base of the neck. McLaughlin then followed Bartell upstairs from the Cold Spring school's basement to the gym, where he shot Bartell in the head.

Defense attorney Dan Eller is using a mental illness defense and has essentially conceded McLaughlin shot Rollins accidentally. He has said McLaughlin intended only to wound Bartell, not kill him.

The frantic 911 call from Rocori High School on the day of the shootings also was played in court Thursday, showing initial confusion about how many students were shot and their conditions.

School officials clarified on the 911 call that two victims were shot, and one was "sucking for air." Officials also said the teenage gunman was being held in the guidance counselor's office.

Craig Lieser, a guidance counselor, testified that McLaughlin said nothing in the 15 minutes the two of them spent in Lieser's office after the shooting.

"He stared straight ahead at the wall in my office," Lieser told the court.

The story of how teachers worked to save Rollins also was told.

Kelsey said she partially caught Rollins as he spun after he was struck by a bullet in the basement hallway near the locker rooms.

"He looked at me and said: 'Help me, I'm hurt. Help me, I'm shot."'

Kelsey laid him down.

"I told (him) help was coming, just to hang in there. What a great kid he was," Kelsey said.

"I knew he was dying. I was telling him things I'd want my girls to hear ... how much he was loved," she said.

She said Rollins tried to get up once before falling back. "He never spoke to me again," she said.

Other witnesses said that Rollins' father walked around like a zombie outside the school after he realized his son was mortally wounded.

Kevin Hagen, the Rocori school liaison officer who led McLaughlin away from the building, testified that Tom Rollins confronted McLaughlin, saying "You better hope Aaron will be OK."

Tom Rollins testified that he couldn't remember what he had said to McLaughlin.

Earlier in the day, Tom Rollins' face bore little expression during Kelsey's testimony.

The teacher had to pause as she broke down recalling the sight of Rollins in distress. "I kept thinking that he's gonna die here, and there's nothing I can do for him," she said.

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