From Omaha.com
January 16, 2018
A school and community are mourning the death of a 13-year-old Shelby, Nebraska, girl who was killed in a weekend hunting accident.
Kimberlee Paddock, a seventh-grader at Shelby-Rising City Public School, was a kind, friendly honor roll student who was involved in numerous activities, said Bill Curry, principal of the middle and high school grades at the K-12 school.
“She was the type of kid that others aspire to be,” Curry said.
Kimberlee had been hunting with her father and two family friends Sunday when the black powder gun she was using accidentally discharged, Sheriff Ben Bakewell said.
The accident, reported about 5:30 p.m., occurred south of Genoa, Nebraska, about 20 miles west of Columbus.
Kimberlee was taken to Genoa Community Hospital and was pronounced dead there.
Investigators from the Sheriff’s Office and Nebraska State Patrol determined that her death “was a tragic accident,” Bakewell said.
Counselors will be available throughout the week, Curry said.
A community gathering will be held at 7 tonight at Sacred Heart parish in Shelby.
“Sometimes, when there’s a tragedy, people just want to be together and be there for each other,” Curry said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Paddock family,” he said. “The whole community is hurting. Everyone wants to come together and help.”
Funeral services are pending.
Kimberlee, whom everybody knew as “Kimmee,” was a trumpet player in the school band, played “whatever sport was in season,” and loved art, the principal said. “You name it, she did it.”
She is survived by parents Mary and Scott Paddock, an identical twin sister, Jaimee, as well as adult siblings.