She was just hours away from heading off to college, but now an 18-year-old in Southern California is fighting for her life.
K'lonie McNeese was one of five people shot inside a garage this week in the city of Highland, located in San Bernardino County.
"I have to wonder what kind of monster would do something like that for no reason," said her mother, Kimberley McNeese. "She's been 18 for two months. So it's been horrible seeing her go through this and we don't understand why."
Just after midnight Tuesday, Kailani McNeese was hanging out with friends near her family's condo on Fifth Street when an unidentified man walked in and opened fire, striking five people -- four women and a man.
K'lonie McNeese suffered the worst injuries.
"In her stomach several times," her mother said. "In both thighs, in her chest, out her back. She almost lost her life. She had stopped breathing once since this incident."
K'lonie McNeese also has a severe spine injury and may never walk again.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
That scares her mom because she knows what it's like to be confined to a wheelchair.
"It's heartbreaking to see her laying in there, laying in there in all kind of pain ... Can't move her feet, can't move her legs."
The shooting happened just 24 hours before Kailani McNeese was supposed to head off to college in North Dakota, a great achievement considering she had a baby during high school.
"She had the baby at 17," her mother said. "She still graduated on time with honors and did what she had to do."
Neither K'lonie McNeese nor any of the other victims could identify the shooter. So San Bernardino County Sheriff's investigators don't have a motive.
They're asking for the public's help.
"It is extremely important to them to identify this person and take him off the street," said Cynthia Bachman, a department spokeswoman.
Kimberley McNeese said that whoever the person is, he's a "cold blooded murderer because he thought he killed all of them."
