BENTON, KY — One victim is confirmed dead and more than a dozen others wounded after police say a gunman opened fire inside a southwest Kentucky school.
The incident, which occurred at Marshall County High School just after 9 am Tuesday morning, rocked the sleepy community located about 100 miles northwest of Nashville.
“Everyone is just scared. Just terrified for their kids,” local small business owner Mitchell Garland told the Associated Press. “We’re a small town and we know a lot of the kids.”
It is not yet known what led to the shooting, but investigators have confirmed that the alleged assailant has been taken into custody.
No information on the injured or dead has yet been released.
Terrified parents were seen quarreling with police officials after being turned away from the school, unable to collect their children, due to the campus’s being placed on emergency lockdown.
“Parents are being asked not to try and pick up students from Marshall County High School,” reported The Marshall County Tribune-Courier. “We have been told there have been arguments between law enforcement and parents trying to get inside. The school remains on lockdown and no one is being allowed inside either entrance. Two Air Evac helicopters have landed in the past few minutes.”
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin asked that the public allow investigators to do their jobs.
“Tragic shooting at Marshall County HS…Shooter is in custody, one confirmed fatality, multiple others wounded…Much yet unknown…Please do not speculate or spread hearsay…Let’s let the first responders do their job and be grateful that they are there to do it for us…,” Bevin tweeted.
President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting, the White House has confirmed, and is receiving regular updates on the investigation.
The shooting comes just one day after another school shooting in rural Texas, where a female student was wounded after being shot by an assailant in the school’s cafeteria. The suspect in that matter was quickly taken into custody.
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