Kentucky school shooting: Reporter who rushed to cover deadly attack ‘discovers suspect is her son’

The suspect in the case is a 15-year-old student at Marshall County High School 

Emily Shugerman
New York
Sunday 28 January 2018 18:24 GMT
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Emergency crews respond to Marshall County High School after a fatal school shooting
Emergency crews respond to Marshall County High School after a fatal school shooting

A reporter who rushed to the scene of a deadly school shooting in Kentucky discovered when she arrived that the alleged gunman was her son, according to local news outlets.

Mary Garrison Minyard, the editor of the Marshall County Daily Online, dashed to a local high school after hearing reports of shots fired. It was only after she arrived that she learned police had arrested her 15-year-old son on suspicion of committing the deadly rampage.

One of Ms Minyard’s colleagues told the Louisville Courier Journal that she went to comfort the editor and take over the story. Multiple people with knowledge of the incident confirmed the suspect’s identity to the Courier Journal.

Ms Minyard has made no public statements on the issue, and appears to have deleted her Facebook account. The Marshall County Daily did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors say the suspect opened fire in the common area of Marshall County High School on Tuesday morning, injuring 16 students and killing two. All of the victims were aged between 14 and 18.

Kentucky school shooting at Marshall County High

The suspect appeared to fire his handgun at random, prosecutors said. Students reportedly tried to break down fences and gates to escape the building, and local business owner Mitchell Garland said students were “crying and screaming” while running out of the school.

“To walk in, the backpacks laying around, the phones laying around, going off … it’s indescribable,” Marshall County Attorney Jeffrey Edwards told reporters after reviewing the scene. “I’ve been doing this for 25 years. It’s not like anything I’ve experienced in my life.”

The suspect was arrested at the scene and charged as a minor with two counts of murder and 12 counts of first degree assault. Assistant County Attorney Jason Darnall told reporters that his office would move to have the 15-year-old tried as an adult.

“In a small town like this you don’t think anything like this would ever happen here,” Marshall County school board chairman Randy Travis said of the 4,500-person community in southwestern Kentucky. “But it did. Everybody here is in shock.”

The boy’s parents attended a closed detention hearing on Wednesday, along with the parents of the two victims who were killed, attorney Mark Blankenship told Reuters.

“They seemed to be suffering as bad as the parents of the victims,” Mr Blankenship said of the suspect’s parents.

The suspect’s parents divorced in 2007, according to the Courier Journal. Both later remarried.

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