Shock gives way to grief after school shooting

BENTON, Ky. — A tightknit Kentucky community reflected Wednesday on the hometown horror of a school shooting in which two teenagers were killed, 18 injured and hundreds of others fled for their lives.

Police have not publicly identified the 15-year-old accused of opening fire Tuesday at Marshall County High School. Officers said he walked into the “commons” area where many students gather before classes begin and immediately began shooting. Witnesses said the suspect fired a single shot, paused, and then emptied the handgun of ammunition before he tried to escape and was arrested.

On Wednesday, authorities said the teen faces preliminary charges of murder and assault while police investigate what prompted the attack.

Throughout a community where practically everyone knows each other — Benton, the nearest town, has a population of about 4,300 — people were initially shocked, saying, “We can’t believe this is happening to us,” Patrick Adamson, a church youth director, said Wednesday.

Dominico Caporali, whose 16-year-old daughter watched her classmate repeatedly pull the trigger, expressed a similar conviction.

“This community doesn’t have violence that most communities do. All these kids know each other, they hang out with each other,” he said.

His daughter Alexandria seconded that, saying “most people are nice to each other here. … It’s not a bad place. Not a lot of bullying goes on.”

But no community is immune to society’s ills — not even Marshall County, where over a four-year stretch ending with the 2016-17 school year, the high school had 317 reports of bullying and other harassment, one first-degree assault, and nine other assaults or acts of violence, according to the Kentucky Department of Education. The school also had seven arrests involving 22 charges, 285 incidents involving drugs and 30 reports involving alcohol.

Kentucky’s database shows that among all 1,253 public schools grades K-12 in the state, there were 72,599 acts of harassment during the same period.

Now, as disbelief gives way to grief, Adamson said people are already asking “What are we going to do about it? How are we going to come together?”

Many are leaning on their faith to cope, he said. His Baptist church gathered Wednesday to share prayers and help teens talk about the shootings. In nearby counties, students gathered in prayer circles before classes began Wednesday. President Donald Trump sent his “thoughts and prayers” in a tweet and shared his condolences with Gov. Matt Bevin on Wednesday in a phone call.

The grief is overwhelming for the families of Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope, the two 15-year-olds who were killed. Secret Holt told KFVS that her daughter was a “perfect sweet soul,” and the “horrific act of violence” is “just unbearable” for her family.

One patient at Vanderbilt University Children’s Hospital was released Wednesday, while three male patients in the adult hospital were upgraded to stable condition, spokesman Kristin Smart said. A fourth male remained in critical but stable condition.