Marissa Rand, Valley Forge High School student in Parma Heights, Ohio shoots self dead in school cafeteria. Suicide comes after senior idolized previous mass shooters on social media, including on her Instagram page, ‘murders.and.acquisitions_’.
A high school senior in Parma Heights, Ohio, has died after fatally shooting herself in the school cafeteria on Monday.
Marissa Rand an 18-year-old attending Valley Forge High School has been identified by social media as the school student who fired a single shot at herself leading to the student dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the school cafeteria on Monday, April 20, 2026.
The incident happened shortly before 2:10 p.m. following dismissal. Police and firefighters responded quickly and found the teen suffering from a gunshot wound. She received emergency medical care at the scene before being transported to a nearby hospital, where she later died from her injuries, News5 reported.
Valley Forge High School placed on lockdown amid fears of mass school shooting
Officials said the situation involved only one student and a single gunshot, confirming there was no active shooter or ongoing threat to other students or staff. Students who were in the area described a chaotic and frightening scene, as school resource officers and staff quickly moved them out of the cafeteria and into hallways before evacuating the building. At first, many believed someone was opening fire on others.
After the incident, the school was placed on lockdown while authorities secured the campus. Students were then taken to a reunification site at Cuyahoga Community College so families could safely pick them up.
Following the tragedy, both Valley Forge High School and nearby Normandy High School were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Parma school district also brought in grief counselors and crisis support teams to help those affected when students returned.
Valley Forge student idolized other mass shooters on Instagram page
The Valley High School student was influenced by other mass school shooters as depicted in disturbing images on her Instagram page,’murders.and.acquisitions_’.
In one image of what appeared to be the 18-year-old woman, Rand is pictured with a gun pointed at her head in what looks like a bedroom.
Another photo cited by Cleveland19 shows what appears to be a shrine to the Columbine High School shooters — with a burning candle, crystals, an inverted pentagram and a locket containing pictures of both infamous mass shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
Of note, Rand took her life on April 20, the anniversary date of the Columbine shooting in 1999.
In another post, Rand also said she wanted to be like ‘Andy B,’ which many people believe was a reference to Randy Stair, a Pennsylvania man who used the name Andrew Blaze and carried out a mass shooting at a grocery store in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, before taking his own life.
