Marshall County Shooting
With 18 school shootings this year, training, diligence, and awareness are needed.
On January 23, 2018 a school shooting occurred in Kentucky. When I heard about the shooting in Kentucky at Marshall County High School, I immediately checked to see if my friend, Brittney Posey, who attends MCHS, was okay.
“He shot one bullet then paused to get everyone’s attention,“ said Posey. “I thought it was a balloon, books slamming down, something like that.”
The victims of the shooting were a total of 19 injured and 2 who died: Bailey Holt and Preston Cope. Brittney Posey knew both of these students. Bailey Holt was a childhood friend and Preston Cope was a classmate of Posey’s since middle school.
Brittney explained that she was in the same area called the Commons where the shooting took place. She stood by a vending machine about 10 to 15 feet away from the shooting. “When he started rapid fire, I froze in complete shock. Where I was fortunately, was right by an exit, and my boyfriend had to grab me and get me out.”
To Brittney, this experience must have been traumatic, disturbing and awful. The list of words to describe this tragedy could go on. “Once I was outside I could still hear shots and screaming. Everyone was panicking and getting in their cars, or taking shelter, breaking down fences, yelling, you name it. People who were just arriving to school quickly turned around.”
Minutes after she got away from the scene, Brittney called her friends to see if they were okay; then she called her great aunt and uncle to tell them there has been a shooting.
With everyone afraid of the recent school shootings, concern is rampant. “We are vigilant and proactive here in the Wentzville School District in all areas – especially where the safety of our students and staff are concerned. We have multiple safety measures in place to help prevent and prepare for an emergency,” said Superintendent Curtis Cain.
The recent tragedies have everyone on edge and if anything can be taken away from this it is this: Don’t be afraid to report any suspicious activity.
Palmer Soberg • Feb 26, 2018 at 7:48 AM
There have not been 18 school shootings this year. That number includes any instance a gun went off on school grounds including a many firing in the air on top of a school on a Sunday afternoon and a child pulling the trigger of a resource officers gun. In most of these instances no one was hurt. CNN and MSNBC publicized the number eighteen to conflate the issue and exaggerate the reach of the topic. School shootings are terrible thing and my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected but you are more likely to die in a car accident on the way to school. It is important to check these sources even if they are “news”.
Alec Reeves • Mar 1, 2018 at 2:47 PM
Thank you for your comment. Even though there was only a certain amount of school shooters, there were still 18 classified school shootings. Because these shootings just happened on a campus, they are still classified as a school shooting. I agree that the news does try to create a scare factor. Thank you for your concern for my article.