2 killed, others injured in shooting at Kentucky school
Jan 23, 2018, 8:24 AM | Updated: 12:23 pm
(Ryan Hermens/The Paducah Sun via AP)
Authorities said two students were killed and over a dozen were injured Tuesday morning in a shooting at a high school in rural Kentucky.
State Police said a boy and a girl died at Marshall County High School, and that the shooter, a 15-year-old student, was in custody.
The shooter wounded 14 of the 19 victims, Gov. Matt Bevin said at a press conference.
#MarshallCounty High Shooting: Two student are deceased. One male and one female. The shooter was a student. A 15 YO male who is now in custody.
— KY State Police (@kystatepolice) January 23, 2018
Shortly after the shooting, Bevins had tweeted that one person had been killed.
Tragic shooting at Marshall County HS…Shooter is in custody, one confirmed fatality, multiple others wounded…Much yet unknown…Please do not speculate or spread hearsay…Let’s let the first responders do their job and be grateful that they are there to do it for us…
— Governor Matt Bevin (@GovMattBevin) January 23, 2018
UPDATE: School Shooting: The scene is secured, the suspect is in custody, and we will be providing updates periodically as information is obtained and confirmed.
— KY State Police (@kystatepolice) January 23, 2018
A TV news station reported that some students took shelter in the school’s safe room.
But nearly 100 students ran out of Marshall County High School seeking safety, said Mitchell Garland, who rushed outside of his business when he heard about the shooting.
“They was running and crying and screaming,” he said.
“They was just kids running down the highway. They were trying to get out of there.”
The gunman fired into a common area just before classes started, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
Many of the injured were taken to hospitals, some airlifted from the site, about 120 miles northwest of Nashville, Tennessee.
The Benton, Kentucky, school was on lockdown and the FBI was working with state and local law enforcement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.