Yesterday, Arapahoe High School student Claire Davis, 17, passed away from the injuries she sustained during the attack. Supporting her family and her healing became a rallying point for the Denver community and beyond as students gathered for a prayer vigil, requested prayers through the top-trending Twitter hashtag #prayforclaire, and even her favorite band, One Direction, created a get well wish for her via YouTube. In short, a nation was pulling for her healing.
In the end, her injuries were “too severe” for even the extraordinary efforts that her medical team implemented. The hospital announced the death with the statement below posted to its Facebook page:
“Despite the best efforts of our physicians and nursing staff, and Claire’s fighting spirit, her injuries were too severe and the most advanced medical treatments could not prevent this tragic loss of life. Claire’s death is immensely heartbreaking for our entire community, our staff and our families.
Her family subsequently issued an incredibly gracious and kind statement to The Denver Post (below).
A statement from the Davis family
It is with unspeakable sadness that we write and say that Claire has passed away from the gunshot wound she received at Arapahoe High School on December 13, 2013. Although we have lost our precious daughter, we will always be grateful for the indelible journey she took us on over the last 17 years—we were truly blessed to be Claire’s parents. The grace, laughter and light she brought to this world will not be extinguished by her death; to the contrary, it will only get stronger.
Last week was truly a paradox in that we lost our daughter, yet we witnessed the wonderful love that exists in the world through the tremendous outpouring of support we received. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the first responders, the school resource officer, security guard and vice principal at Arapahoe High School, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s office, and the physicians, nurses and staff at Littleton Adventist Hospital. Each played a significant role in giving Claire a chance to live, and demonstrated extreme amounts of professionalism, courage and love. Please know that we will never forget the extraordinary work you did on Claire’s behalf.
We ask that you give us time to grieve the death of our daughter by respecting our wishes for privacy.
With much loving-kindness,
The Davis Family
Please keep Claire Davis’ family and friends in your thoughts and prayers this holiday season. Losing a child at anytime must be a beyond painful experience, but losing a child during the holidays, at a time when the rest of the world is celebrating with family, must be particularly difficult.
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