Two people are dead and at least 19 others injured following a confirmed school shooting by a 15-year-old with a handgun in southwestern Kentucky.
Police were seen leading a teenager away in handcuffs the Associated Press reported. The shooter will be charged with murder and attempted murder, Kentucky State Police Lt. Michael Webb said.
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“He was apprehended by the sheriff’s department here on site, at the school, thankfully before any more lives could be taken,” Webb said.
It was the nation’s first fatal school shooting of 2018.
Crews were called to the scene at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky just after 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday, WPSD reports.
Authorities said at least five students were shot. A 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl died.
Police did not release identities or a motive.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin expressed condolences on Twitter.
A statement from Gov. Bevin regarding this morning’s events in Marshall County: pic.twitter.com/0n0cxgJkvi
— Governor Matt Bevin (@GovMattBevin) January 23, 2018
The shooting happened as students gathered in a common area just before the day’s first classes.
“They was running and crying and screaming,” Mitchell Garland, who provided shelter to between 50 and 100 students inside his nearby business, told the AP. “They was just kids running down the highway. They were trying to get out of there.”
