WASHINGTON — The woman who died Saturday when a 12-year-old jumped from an overpass on Interstate 66 in Fairfax County, Virginia, and landed on her car was a Marymount University graduate student studying mental health counseling.
In a statement Monday, university President Matthew D. Shank said that Marisa Harris, 22, of Olney, Maryland, was a first-year graduate student in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.
Lisa Jackson-Cherry, the chair of the department, said in the statement that, “Marisa was very quiet and reflective, but you could tell once she completed her program she was going to make a difference in the lives of a lot of young adults.”
Shanks said that a memorial service will be held later, and that, “The loss of any student, particularly in so heartbreaking a manner, grieves us all.”
Harris died of her injuries Saturday when a 12-year-old boy jumped from the Cedar Lane overpass near Nutley Street, the Virginia State Police said.
The boy was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, and police are investigating the incident as a suicide attempt. He’s still alive.
A man in the front passenger seat of Harris’ car was not injured.
Woman killed when boy jumped off I-66 overpass onto her car was 22-year-old student at Marymount Univ., family says https://t.co/fUJoZWTgE9 pic.twitter.com/HtarrZOFKb
— NBCWashington (@nbcwashington) October 29, 2017
