Prosecutors want teen Kentucky school shooting suspect to be tried as an adult

The 15-year-old suspected shooter that allegedly shot and killed two other teens inside Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky, on Tuesday morning has been formally charged with two counts of murder and 12 counts of first degree assault. The identity of the suspected shooter still has not been released.  Prosecutors in the case against the shooter want the 15-year-old suspect to be charged as an adult, according to WKRN.

Shooting began inside the school at 7:57 a.m. on Tuesday. Dead because of the senseless January 23 school shootings are 15-year-old students Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope.  Eighteen other students were also injured.  Four were hurt trying to escape the shooter while 16 others suffered gunshot wounds.  One of those injured is listed as being in critical but stable condition.

Assistant Marshall County Attorney Jason Darnall informed the media that the case will be going before the grand jury on February 13.  A decision regarding charging the suspected teen shooter as an adult will be made at that time.

In a heart-breaking tale shared by ABC News, murder victim Bailey Nicole Holt’s parents said that their daughter called home to speak with her parents once the shooting started. Bailey’s mom, Secret Holt, said that, “She called me and all I could hear was voices, chaos in the background.  She couldn’t say anything and I tried to call her name over and over and over and she never responded. We rushed to the high school, and they wouldn’t let us get through,” she said.

“We waited and waited for her to get off the buses and she never did,” Secret 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.”

Although the suspected shooter has still not been identified for the general public, student witnesses at the scene say that the boy arrested was a fellow Marshall County High School classmate.  Police still have not released a possible motive for the shootings.

ABC News also quoted the grieving Secret Holt as saying, “”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, 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.”

“Whatever that kid had going through his mind, I don’t know,” she added. “But if he needed a friend, I know she would’ve been a friend to him and talked to him about anything he needed, because that’s just the kind of person she was.” ~ Secret Holt

People quoted the mom as saying that Bailey was, “a perfect sweet soul.”

https://youtu.be/W_4dKlvrdwg

~ Written by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today   /   Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter