Staff Writers
Benton, Kentucky, a normal high school morning, kids roaming the halls and talking with friends, waiting for the starting bell to ring. At approximately 8:00 AM that morning, the fun was shattered as students began to hear gunshots ring throughout Marshall County High School. To some it sounded like a balloon popping, to others, footsteps, little did they know of the reality of the noise.
There was a moment of silence after the first shot, said senior Matt Ray. Then another shot, and people started to realize what was happening. An unnamed student had brought a handgun into school, opening fire, injuring 16 people, two of which killed.
The 15-year-old shooter faces charges of murder and first-degree assault and is expected to be tried as an adult. As the gunshots continued, students scurried around the school looking for any sort of cover or escape from the sudden terror. Students escaped the building, some running down the street to a dentist office or a McDonald's, others hopping into strangers’ cars and asking them to drive away. "I could see, adjacent to the high school, the parking lot, and all the chaos there as everyone was running," Ray said, "and some people were trying to escape by trying to drive away really quickly."
The shooter was apprehended by Marshall County Deputies at 8:06 AM. Sophomore Bailey Nicole Holt, 15, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Marshall County coroner. Preston Ryan Cope, 15, died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, according to Kentucky State Police spokesman Jody Cash.
In times of terror, communities seem to come together to aid each other in whatever way they can. Seeing the commission of an act like this made the people of Marshall County ponder as to what the shooter's motive was, while also bringing them together like never before, but we all hope to never witness an act of such cruelty in years to come.
