Kentucky School Shooting Victim Called Mom as She Was Dying, But Couldn’t Speak

One of the two students killed in a Kentucky high school shooting called her mother after she was shot, her mother says.

Bailey Holt and Preston Cope, both 15 years old, were shot and killed in the Marshall County High School shooting on Tuesday by an unnamed shooter, who remains in custody.

Bailey’s mother, Secret Holt, told WKRN that Bailey called her after she was shot, but she was no longer able to speak.

“She called me and all I could hear was voices, chaos in the background,” Holt said on Wednesday. “She couldn’t say anything and I tried to call her name over and over and over and she never responded.”

Holt soon learned there had been a shooting at her daughter’s school, so she rushed to where students were being bussed to safety.

She says she knew something was wrong when she didn’t see her daughter on any of the buses.

“We waited and waited for her to get off the buses and she never did,” Holt said. “The principal at North Marshal came and got me, and took us outside and we got in a cop car and they took us to the fire department and told us what had happened.”

Bailey’s father, Jason Holt, remembers dropping his daughter off at school the morning she was shot.

“I took her to school and gave her a kiss and told her I love and she got out of the car,” he said.

Bailey’s parents described her to the Today show as “the best kid ever.”

“She was an angel here on earth,” Jason said. “She was a perfect angel.”

“She loved everyone. She never had a harsh word to say about anything or anyone,” Holt said.

Her parents said she loved music, art and helping others.

“Even though she was 15, she had already decided her career was going to be a labor and delivery nurse,” Holt said. “She helped others … she was just so kind-hearted and the most amazing kid anybody could ever ask for. Her smile could light up the room.”

Holt said she’s praying for the victims, as well as the shooter and his family.

“I don’t know if I can go to court and see him. I just don’t know if I can, but I want him to pay for everything he’s done,” she said. “I also want to pray for him, too, because I know he’s probably having a hard time too, but he took our baby. He still took my baby from me.”

The shooter is currently being held in a regional juvenile jail in Paducah, 30 minutes away from the high school.

The case against the suspect will begin in juvenile court, which is closed to the public and the records sealed under Kentucky law. Prosecutors will request a judge move it to adult court, at which point the details will no longer be secret. A grand jury is scheduled to meet on February 13.

In addition to Bailey and Preston, 14 others were shot and four injured while running away from the shooting.