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Hundreds mourn slain Ky. teens.

They came by the hundreds, some crying for the teen girl who loved black Converse sneakers and the teen boy who loved baseball.

Others didn’t know Bailey Holt or Preston Cope, but in a community as tightknit as Benton, they came anyway, standing in line for hours at Marshall County High School to pay their respects to the two 15-year-olds killed during a shooting at the school Tuesday.

A line of hundreds reached to the end of the school. Inside, hundreds more stood in line in the auditorium, where photos of Holt and Cope sat near two closed coffins.

At a news conference nearby, two women spoke about the teens on behalf of their families.

Holt’s aunt Tracy Tubbs spoke on behalf of her family.

She said Holt called her mom in secret the morning of the shooting, but “it was too late.”

Tubbs said the family learned that Holt did not suffer and was surrounded by people trying to help her.

“How great our lord and savior is. He chose us to have this beautiful creature in our life for 15 short, magnificent years,” Tubbs said. “Our anger is evident. Our grief is gut-wrenching.”

She said the act of violence brought about an opposite reaction: kindness and love bringing the community closer together.

“We will get through this, and we will be more like Bailey going forward,” she said. “We will hug tighter; we will love harder.”

Jackie Reid, principal of Sharpe Elementary where Cope’s mother is a teacher, spoke on behalf of his family.

“We have felt each and every prayer,” she said. “To hear how much Preston was loved has been such a blessing.”

She described him as caring and passionate.

Holt and Cope went to school together most of their lives. She loved the University of Louisville, and he loved history and the outdoors. “Most of all, he loved his family,” Reid said.

Ellen Walsh, a friend of Holt’s mother, stood at the end of a long line outside the school for a joint visitation for the two teens Saturday evening.

“It’s horrible,” she said. “You send your child to school, you expect them to come home.”

ERICA BRECHTELSBAUER/USA TODAY NETWORK Tracy Tubbs, Bailey Holt’s aunt, stands by as Jackie Reid speaks for Preston Cope’s family at a news conference.