Listen to this articleOpenly-gay 15-year-old Lawrence King, who was shot Tuesday morning by a fellow classmate at his Oxnard, Calif., middle school, was taken off life support Friday and died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner-Coronor’s Office released the official cause of King’s death Friday afternoon after completing an autopsy. Officials have decliened to release any futher details.
King was shot by a classmate at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, in a computer lab at E.O. Green School. Doctors declared him brain-dead on Wednesday and removed from a ventilator Thursday night. Doctors removed some organs for donation as directed by his father, Greg King.
“I think that’s what he would have wanted,” he told the Ventura County Star.
Students in the computer lab said classmate Brandon David McInerney, 14, shot King twice.
Prosecutors have charged McInerney with murder and a hate crime, but will not release details about why a hate crime charge is being pursued.
Students have said that Larry King was openly gay and had often shown up to school in feminine clothing, high heels and makeup. They have also aid that he and McInerney had an ongoing dispute that included an argument the day before the shooting.
McInerney remains in Juvenile Hall, is being prosecuted as an adult and is being held in lieu of $770,000 bail.
