Oct 27, 2014 3 min read

MARYSVILLE, Wash. – The Snohomish County medical examiner released on Monday the name of the girl killed in her high school cafeteria here on Friday. Zoe R. Galasso, 14, of Marysville died of a handgun wound to the head, the medical examiner said.

Zoe’s death was known and mourned at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, half an hour north of Seattle, with tributes and flowers posted in her name on the chain-link fence memorial that has arisen in recent days on the edge of the school grounds. But with official confirmation, her death became part of a wider public grieving that has gripped this community.

Less than 12 hours earlier, on Sunday night, hospital officials said another 14-year-old girl shot in the attack, Gia Soriano, had died of her wounds.

Both girls were sitting with friends when Jaylen Ray Fryberg, also 14 and a freshman, opened fire with a .40-caliber handgun during a lunch period, witnesses said. In a span of minutes, he killed another female classmate and seriously wounded four others, including Gia, each of them his childhood friends and two were his relatives.

As the wounded have fought for their lives in hospitals, the attack has raised questions in this community about why a popular 14-year-old boy would turn on classmates with lethal malice.

Other details about the attack itself also began to emerge on Sunday, especially the role of a young teacher many students are calling a hero.

The teacher, Megan Silberberger, was only about six weeks into her first job out of college when she came into the cafeteria on Friday morning and saw students on the floor and another student firing a gun.

Many students interviewed on Friday vividly remembered what happened after the initial shots were fired, as a woman grabbed Fryberg’s arm – few knew the woman as Silberberger at the time. A few seconds later, they said, they saw Fryberg fall to the ground.

The county medical examiner said on Monday that the examination of Fryberg’s body had been completed and that he committed suicide, confirming that a tussle over the gun with Silberberger did not cause his death.

After Gia’s death, three students remain hospitalized. Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, remained in critical condition Sunday at Providence Regional Medical Center; Nate Hatch, 14, who was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, remained in serious condition in intensive care; and Andrew Fryberg, 15, also being treated at Harborview, remained in critical condition, hospital officials said Sunday. The boys were Jaylen Fryberg’s cousins, family members said.