• Kimber Mills removed from life support Tuesday after sustaining irreversible brain trauma from gunshot wound at weekend bonfire party
• Hundreds lined UAB Hospital halls for Honor Walk ceremony as 18-year-old Cleveland High School senior wheeled to organ donation center
• Mills’ heart donated to 7-year-old child while her lungs and other organs saved additional lives through transplant procedures

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (TDR) — The family of Kimber Mills, an Alabama high school cheerleader and track runner, said goodbye on Tuesday after she was shot in the head at a weekend party. Mills’ relatives say the 18-year-old, who was attending the party in a wooded area outside Birmingham with friends and her sister, sustained irreversible brain trauma.

In what’s known as an Honor Walk, hundreds of people lined the halls of UAB Hospital Tuesday night as Mills was taken to a nearby organ donation center, AL.com reports. “She is giving the greatest gift of all today. Life,” her cousin Morgan Kaye Metz said in a Facebook post, per People. “She was a blessing and now she gets to bless others.”

Seven-year-old receives Mills’ heart

Mills’ sister Ashley Mills told WVTM 13 that her heart was donated to a 7-year-old child. Doctors confirmed Monday that Mills’ organs could be donated after running final tests on her heart and lungs. “She has had the biggest gathering for honor walk the doc has ever seen,” Ashley Mills wrote Wednesday on Facebook. “She was and is so loved by so many. We will miss you, Kimber.”

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The Cleveland High School senior was shot early Sunday at a bonfire in a wooded area known as The Pit in Pinson. Mills was one of four people wounded when shots rang out during what authorities say began as a fight at the gathering. An 18-year-old man, a 21-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman also sustained gunshot wounds and are expected to survive.

Suspect charged with murder after death

Steven Tyler Whitehead, 27, was arrested early Sunday morning and initially charged with three counts of attempted murder. Following Mills’ death Tuesday, authorities upgraded the charges to include murder. Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene at 12:24 a.m. Saturday after receiving reports of gunfire.

According to Mills’ sister, Whitehead showed up to the gathering and tried to talk to one of Kimber’s friends, setting off a dispute that turned violent. “She wanted to do things that I wanted to that I wasn’t able to like be a nurse, help people, and that’s exactly what she was trying to do that night. Was just help,” Ashley Mills said. “We shouldn’t be burying our little sister. It should be the other way around.”

Community rallies around family

Mills, who planned to attend the University of Alabama and aspired to become a nurse, was remembered by school officials as a bright, outgoing student-athlete. “Kimber’s smile and infectious personality will certainly be missed, but she will always be remembered,” Blount County School Superintendent Rodney Green said in a statement.

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A vigil was held Monday night at Cleveland High School, where classmates, teachers and community members gathered to pray and share memories. An online fundraiser established for Mills’ family had raised more than $21,000 as of Wednesday. Across Blount County, pink bows representing Kimber’s favorite color line businesses and houses, with proceeds going toward her family.

“She was just very bubbly,” Ashley Mills said. “She loved everyone. She could make friends anywhere she went, but she also had that little fiery side where she could get you. She just loved everything. She was just the sweetest.”

How can communities address gun violence at youth gatherings while honoring victims’ legacies?

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