Hundreds Mourn Michigan Shooting Victim, 6

Three days after 6-year-old Kayla Rolland was shot to death at her elementary school, allegedly by a 6-year-old classmate, hundreds of tearful mourners bearing flowers, cards and stuffed animals paid their respects during a daylong visitation Friday.

At a memorial service Friday night, about 1,000 mourners packed Brown Funeral Home to grieve. Many hadn’t known Kayla, and many wept.

Kayla’s older sister, Elizabeth, joined other relatives in taking turns reading a poem as they cried.

“How could they do that to Kayla?” the Rev. Gene Warren asked the mothers and fathers, some with their children and babies. “I don’t have the answers. But I know she’s with Jesus.”

Earlier during the visitation, Scott Messinger clutched a pink ribbon while holding his 2-year-old son tightly and handing out laminated cards with Kayla’s picture. He said he knows Kayla’s family.

“I’m not sure how they’re going to cope with this. I don’t know how I would,” he said. “They’re taking it hard. You’re not supposed to lose a little one this way.”

His eyes welling, Messinger bent down, kissed his son and told him softly, “I love you.”

“She was too young,” said Buffy Darling. “She didn’t even have a chance to grow up.”

Kayla, in a red dress, lay in an open coffin, a small doll of the TV character Barney beneath it. In her hands was a small card with a poem titled “I’m Free.”

A large poster board filled with signatures and messages from students at Kayla’s school stood near the coffin. “I’m sorry this happened,” said many of the messages.

By midday, mourners had brought so many flowers that some had to be placed in another room.

Outside, someone left a small plastic pot with yellow flowers next to a row of shrubs. A handwritten index card taped to the pot carried a plea: “Please pray for our children.”

Kayla’s uncle, Tim Rolland, said the family was grateful for all the support. Though he and his wife, Connie, said the day was very hard on them, Connie Rolland was hopeful something good might come of Kayla’s death.

James Ray, superintendent of schools in Flint, said he came on behalf of the entire Flint school community. The district planned to donate books in Kayla’s memory to Buell Elementary School, which is in another district, in neighboring Mount Morris Township.

The boy has told police that it was an accident and that he meant only to scare Kayla. The two are believed to have scuffled on the playground the day before, with one slapping the other.

No charges are expected against the boy, and the prosecutor--as well as many in the community--has urged compassion for a child they say was a victim of a chaotic upbringing.