A “bubbly” Alabama cheerleader who dreamed of becoming a nurse was shot in the head when a maniac opened fire at a bonfire – and now the beloved teen will be taken off life support, with her organs donated.
Kimber Mills, 18, a senior at Cleveland High School, was among four people shot early Sunday when 27-year-old Tyler Whitehead allegedly stormed a local wooded hangout in Pinson known as “The Pit,” and harassed the group of friends before launching his senseless attack, according to multiple reports.
The promising teen, who was also shot in the leg, has since been clinging to life on a ventilator at UAB Hospital in Birmingham.
Her devastated family has said her brain injuries are too severe for surgery.
“She has too much trauma to her brain,” her heartbroken sister, Ashley, told AL.com reported.
“She is breathing on her own with an assisted breathing machine. There is no surgery that would give her a life worth living. We’ve opted to just let her body do what it needs to do.”
Mills, who planned to attend the University of Alabama, will be surrounded by loved ones Tuesday as she’s wheeled into surgery to donate her heart and lungs during an Honor Walk at 4 p.m., her sister said.
Ashley said it was her sister’s wish to be an organ donor, the outlet reported.
“She is giving the greatest gift of all today. Life,” Mills’ cousin, Morgan Kaye Metz, posted on Facebook.
“She was a blessing and now she gets to bless others. We love and thank you all.”
Three other people also sustained gunshot wounds when Whitehead — a stranger — allegedly showed up at the party around 12:24 a.m. and started shooting after a verbal spat, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
“My ex-girlfriend came up to me at the party and said [Whitehead] was trying to do stuff to this girl named Kimber,” Silas McCay, a 21-year-old who was allegedly blasted 10 times by the Brookwood gunman, told WRBC.
“My buddy and I found him, and we started fighting him. I grabbed him and put him over my shoulder and had him on the ground. My buddy pulled me off him, and that’s when he pulled his gun out and started shooting. I look at her like a little sister. I tired everything I could. I wish there was more I could’ve done.”
Ashley said her sister was simply “caught in the crossfire,” according to AL.com.
Mills was then rushed to the hospital, where doctors told her family she only had days to live.
Whitehead was charged with three counts of attempted murder and is being held on a $180,000 bond at Jefferson County Jail, police said.
“She was just very bubbly,” Ashley said of her sister, WVTM13 reported.
“She loved everyone. She could make friends anywhere she went, but she also had that little fiery side where she could get you. I guess I would just say that she had a spunk in her step. She just loved everything. She was just the sweetest.”
A GoFundMe was launched to help Mills’ family and the other victim’s hurt in the shooting.
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