Two Dead, 17 Wounded in Kentucky School Shooting

Prior to Tuesday morning, 139 people had been killed in mass murders at schools or colleges since Columbine occurred in 1999. Today, the total has risen to 141.

At 7:57 a.m., an unnamed 15-year-old male walked into Marshall County High School in Benton, Ky. with a handgun, opened fire in the school’s commons, and left in his wake at least two dead and 17 injured, officials said.

Two minutes later, Kentucky State Police dispatchers received the first 911 call. Seven minutes later, at 8:06 a.m., police arrived at the scene. The two fatalities were both 15-year-olds, with the female victim dying immediately at the scene and the male dying later at a trauma center, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin said.

The small town of Benton is left in shock.

Lexi Waymon, 16, said she and her friend were talking when she heard gunshots cut through the air.

“I blacked out. I couldn’t move. I got up and I tried to run, but I fell. I heard someone hit the ground. It was so close to me,” Waymon told reporters. “I just heard it and then I just, everything was black for a good minute. Like, I could not see anything. I just froze and did not know what to do. Then I got up and I ran.”

She continued running, stopped long enough to dial her mom’s phone number, then began running again.

“All I could keep thinking was, ‘I can’t believe this is happening. I cannot believe this is happening,’” she said.

Clyde Lee, uncle of sophomore Isaac Robinson, was at the North Marshall Middle School waiting to collect his nephew who attended Marshall County High School.

“There are a lot of parents crying,” Lee said. “It’s a very bad situation here. We had a family friend who was shot in the chest. We don’t have any other information on her condition.”

Lee said he never dreamed something like this could happen in Benton.

“You never imagine something like this happening in such a small town,” he said. “No one should have to go through something like this.”

Details about the other victims’ conditions and the shooter remain unknown as of this morning.