A photograph of University of Utah student and track athlete Lauren McCluskey, who was fatally shot on campus is projected on the video board before the start of an NCAA college football game between Oregon and Utah Saturday Nov. 10, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
The mother of a University of Utah track athlete who was fatally shot by a sex offender parolee she had briefly dated says the person who loaned him the gun should be prosecuted.
Jill McCluskey made the comment in a tweet Tuesday in which she said 'it is a great responsibility to own a gun.'
The 21-year-old Lauren McCluskey of Pullman, Washington, was killed on Oct. 22 by Melvin Rowland in a University of Utah parking lot in Salt Lake City.
University police chief Dale Brophy said on Oct. 25 that an acquaintance let Rowland use a gun after Rowland said his girlfriend wanted to learn to shoot. Brophy said the person had been duped and was cooperating with investigators and not facing charges at that time.
University of Utah spokesman Chris Nelson said nothing has changed and that the investigation is ongoing.