Kentucky community grapples with cause of school shooting
BENTON, KY. » The 15-yearold accused in a school shooting that killed two students and left 18 others bleeding and broken remains cloaked in the secrecy of juvenile court, where his initial hearing on preliminary charges of murder and assault was scheduled on Thursday.
Prosecutors said they won’t publicly identify the teenager until they get permission to try him as an adult. Meanwhile, they’re gathering evidence for a grand jury, hoping to discover why he fired into a crowd of his classmates, all 14 to 18 years old, as they waited for the morning bell inside Marshall County High School on Tuesday.
The aftermath has been overwhelming in a community where practically everyone knows each other — Benton, the nearest town, has about 4,300 residents, and the entire county has A Kentucky State Police trooper checks with a motorist entering Marshall County High School Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018, near Benton, Ky. Two students died and another 18 people were injured in a shooting on Tuesday. just 31,000 people or so. when classes there might
The county’s elementary resume. and middle schools Two more patients were reopened Thursday in an released from Vanderbilt effort to “get back to normalcy,” University Medical Center after Superintendent in Nashville, spokeswoman Trent Lovett invited Kristin Smart said Thursday. parents to come along with Two male patients are their younger children, to still being treated at the help manage their grief. hospital — one who is in
But the high school — critical but stable condition still a crime scene — remained and the other who is in stable closed and Lovett condition, Smart said. had no word Wednesday on Until authorities know why the shooter opened fire, a prosecutor said Wednesday, they can’t yet add charges of attempted murder to the two murder charges he faces, even though more than a dozen other students suffered bullet wounds. Assistant Marshall County Attorney Jason Darnall said the preliminary charges of first-degree assault carry the same penalty.
“Attempted murder is an offense which takes into account motive and specific intent,” Darnall said. Assault simply requires a “serious physical injury by means of a dangerous instrument.”
Schreiner reported from Frankfort, Kentucky.