A 17-year-old student that was shot in the face by a schoolmate at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., is still in a coma.
Claire Davis, who was shot in the face during America's most recent school shooting, fights for her life at the Littleton Hospital. It is unknown if she was an intended target of shooter Karl Pierson, an 18-year-old student that attacked the school on Friday, Dec. 13 with a firearm, a machete and three molotov cocktails.
According to the ABC, first investigations indicate that Pierson entered the school's library to take revenge on a debate team instructor, Tracy Murphy, who had kicked him off the team.
Pierson shot five times, hitting Claire Davis and another student, before taking his life.
Colorado's governor visited Claire's parents
According to El Nuevo Herald, the governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, visited Claire's parents and said the community is praying for her quick recovery.
"We all have to keep Claire in our thoughts and in our prayers. I can't imagine what you're going through," he said.
Sheriff Grayson Robinson said that the injured teenager was an innocent victim that was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"She's an innocent young woman, and an innocent victim of an evil act of violence. She probably simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Robison.
Violence in American schools
Friday's attack came almost exactly one year after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., that took the lives of 20 children and six adults, and reignited the debate on gun control in the United States.
First reports revealed that Pierson legally bought the firearm he comitted the shooting with in Colorado on Dec. 6.
For years, U.S. citizens and legislators have tried to pass laws that would control access to firearms; however, such initiatives have been coldly received by congressmen. Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012, the second-worst school shooting in American history, gun control laws have largley weakened across the United States.