Indiana Teen Shot To Death By Backseat Passenger Days After 19th Birthday

Annalysa McMillan, 19, was shot and killed by a backseat passenger with an AR-15 style rifle while driving her car in Marion, Indiana on Tuesday. McMillan celebrated her 19th birthday just five days before her death.

According to police, the gun discharged in the passenger seat behind her, striking her. Police responded to a car accident and discovered McMillan unresponsive. Officers immediately began resuscitation efforts but she was pronounced dead at Marion General Hospital. The cause of death was determined to be one gunshot to McMillan’s back and the manner of death has been ruled a homicide, as reported by CNN.

The shooting also caused a minor accident with another driver, police said. Austin Smith, 22, was sitting behind McMillan with the rifle when it discharged and is currently being held on bond on charges of reckless homicide and criminal recklessness while armed with a deadly weapon, according to the Grant Count Jail website.

Mark Atkinson, lead pastor at Eastview Wesleyan Church in Gas City, where McMillan attended, spoke to Fox 59 about the community’s shock at the young woman’s untimely death. “I do believe there are a lot of things that there’s no way to answer, so we just have to trust in the Lord,’ Atkinson said.

“The last text that she sent to her step-father was that she loved him, and those things are glued to hold tight when everything is trying to blow you apart.”