18-Year-Old Shot Day After Graduation By Fellow Teen Who Thought Gun Was Unloaded: Police

A Tennessee teenager graduated from high school on Friday and was fatally shot the following day — allegedly by another teen, who told police he did not know the gun was loaded.

Eighteen-year-old Lily Basil, of Franklin, was killed on Saturday in a shooting that took place a day after she celebrated her graduation, Page High School principal Katie Hill said in a statement to HuffPost.

Lily Basil via Williamson County School District
Lily Basil via Williamson County School District Williamson County School District

“Her smile lit up every room she entered,” Hill wrote. “Though she was newer to the Page community, she quickly embraced the Patriot spirit and was a friend to everyone she met.”

Matthew Roufail, 18, was arrested and charged with criminal homicide following the shooting, a spokesperson for the Franklin Police Department confirmed with HuffPost. His bond was set at $150,000.

According to an affidavit cited by local FOX affiliate WZTV, officers responded to a 911 caller who told said he was taking Basil to the hospital to treat a gunshot wound in her right shoulder. Police told him to pull over and wait for paramedics.

Basil was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, about 4 miles from where she was shot, according to the outlet. She was pronounced dead soon after.

A witness at the scene of the shooting identified the suspect as Roufail, who they said left to go to a different hospital, according to the outlet.

Roufail allegedly told police he shot Basil with an AR-15-style rifle he thought was unloaded, according to the Williamson Herald, a local news site. One witness told officers that Roufali had shot Basil with a .22-caliber rifle “in the trunk of his car.”

Basil’s family arranged a celebration of life ceremony at a local church on Friday.

Tennessee has one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the U.S., according to the gun control nonprofit Everytown, which cited the state’s permissive open-carry laws and a lack of background check requirements for those seeking to buy firearms.

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