By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Benton, Kentucky—Two students are now confirmed dead from this morning’s shooting at Marshall County High School, with 19 other victims injured, according to information provided at a news conference held a few moments ago at the Marshall County Board of Education offices.
Governor Matt Bevin announced that a 15-year-old female student died at the scene, while the second student, a 15-year-old male, died at a hospital where he had been taken after the shooting.
Nineteen individuals have been treated for injuries, Bevin said, 14 from gunshot wounds and five injured with non-gunshot wounds.
The injured were taken to multiple regional and local hospitals, with six flown to the nearest Level 1 Trauma Centers.
A 15-year-old male student is in custody and will be charged with murder and attempted murder, Bevin said.
An emotional Governor Bevin said, “This is heart-breaking…this is a wound that is going to take a long time to heal.”
Rick Sanders of the Kentucky State Police presented a timeline of events, noting that it began at 7:57 a.m. when the suspect student entered the high school armed with a handgun and started shooting. At 7:59 a.m., the first 911 call was received.
A School Resource Officer was on duty when the incident happened and students “did exactly as they were trained” after the shootings, Sanders said.
Students at Calloway County High School will be wearing Marshall County colors at school the next few days and several prayer vigils have been set in the Benton area for this evening and tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the son of a former Paris resident was an eye-witness to this morning’s tragedy. Jennifer Miller has spent an anxious morning waiting for her son, a student at the school, to be questioned along with other eye-witnesses. Miller’s sister, Christi Cross of Paris, is with her. Cross was on the way to Paducah when she got word of the shooting and immediately drove to Benton to be with her sister and nephew.
Cross said, “Worst day imaginable until you hear he’s ok and then just sick for the ones who didn’t get that same good news. It’s horrific.”
Nineteen individuals have been treated for injuries, Bevin said, 14 from gunshot wounds and five injured with non-gunshot wounds.
The injured were taken to multiple regional and local hospitals, with six flown to the nearest Level 1 Trauma Centers.
A 15-year-old male student is in custody and will be charged with murder and attempted murder, Bevin said.
An emotional Governor Bevin said, “This is heart-breaking…this is a wound that is going to take a long time to heal.”
Rick Sanders of the Kentucky State Police presented a timeline of events, noting that it began at 7:57 a.m. when the suspect student entered the high school armed with a handgun and started shooting. At 7:59 a.m., the first 911 call was received.
A School Resource Officer was on duty when the incident happened and students “did exactly as they were trained” after the shootings, Sanders said.
Students at Calloway County High School will be wearing Marshall County colors at school the next few days and several prayer vigils have been set in the Benton area for this evening and tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the son of a former Paris resident was an eye-witness to this morning’s tragedy. Jennifer Miller has spent an anxious morning waiting for her son, a student at the school, to be questioned along with other eye-witnesses. Miller’s sister, Christi Cross of Paris, is with her. Cross was on the way to Paducah when she got word of the shooting and immediately drove to Benton to be with her sister and nephew.
Cross said, “Worst day imaginable until you hear he’s ok and then just sick for the ones who didn’t get that same good news. It’s horrific.”