Mother: Shooting took life of a ‘perfect sweet soul’
BENTON, KY. — A tightknit rural community reflected Wednesday on the hometown horror of a school shooting that killed two teenagers, injured 18 and sent hundreds of others fleeing for their lives from a place many considered immune from violence.
Police have not publicly identified the 15-yearold 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 he fired a single shot, paused, and then emptied the handgun of ammunition before he tried to escape and was arrested. On Wednesday, authorities said he faces preliminary charges of murder and assault while police investigate what might have prompted the attack.
Throughout a community where practically everyone knows each other — Benton, the nearest town, has about 4,300 people — 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 told The Associated Press.
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 firstdegree assault, and nine other assaults or acts of violence, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.
The school also had 7 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 — an average of 58 per school.
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 was gathering 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 more than 24 hours after the shootings, and shared his condolences with Gov. Matt Bevin on Wednesday in a phone call.