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Olivia McMillan described receiving an emotional final text from her friend Justin Shilling the day a gunman opened fire at Oxford High School in 2021.
McMillan said that when her classmate heard gunshots coming from the street, she sent a text message to her chat group, where Shilling was.
Shilling texted back that she was in the bathroom with the shooter, Ethan Crumbley, she said. The last text her friends received from her was, “I love you,” she said in court Friday at Crumbley’s sentencing hearing. McMillan later learned that his friend had died.
He said he was grateful to have Shilling as a friend. He always tried to make others laugh, help with homework and bless his friends with their sports.
On the day of the shooting, the class at first thought the loud noise was just someone banging a lock or pulling a prank in the hall, McMillan said.
“I don’t know when my brain turned and I realized I was in a dangerous situation and started removing desks, tables, chairs, filing cabinets to block the door, ” he said.
For days after the shooting, McMillan said he believed Shilling would be fine and thought about all the high school events ahead of them.
“The night after the shooting, I was alone in my room. There is no future without Justin in it. He will recover, and he will continue to make fun of me, he will go to the announcement with us, he will graduate and walk on the stage – probably proud of the blessings all the signs he went to. to get it, we’re going to celebrate it,” said McMillan.
He said from the day he met Shilling he knew he wanted to be her friend. As the two grew closer, McMillan said he became like family.
“I knew he was going to be in my life for years to come, I didn’t know he was going to be just a memory,” McMillan said.