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2 dead, 6 wounded in Kentucky high school shooting
December 1, 1997
Lobby where the shooting occurred
Web posted at: 7:40 p.m. EST (0040 GMT)WEST PADUCAH, Kentucky (CNN) -- Two teens were killed, another is near death and five were wounded after a 14-year-old freshman opened fire on classmates conducting an informal prayer service in a high school lobby Monday.
Afterward, the boy said "I'm sorry," according to Heath High School Principal Bill Bond. Asked by sheriff's detectives why he shot his classmates, the gunman told them he didn't know.
The unidentified suspect was arrested immediately after the shooting. He was charged as a juvenile with murder, attempted murder and burglary.
McCracken County Sheriff Frank Augustus said authorities would attempt to charge him as an adult, enabling prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
The incident took place at about 7:45 a.m. About 35 or 40 students were holding hands in a circle for a brief, informal prayer service next to the principal's office when the suspect pulled a gun from his backpack and began shooting. About a dozen other people were standing nearby.
The first few shots appeared to be aimed deliberately, and then the boy fired at random, Bond said. Augustus said the teen fired 10 to 12 shots.
Eyewitness Ben Heady describes the aftermath of the shooting 
416K/35 sec. AIFF or WAV sound "People were screaming, running out of the hall"
"I heard gunshots, about 10 in a row, just bang, bang, bang, bang bang," said Ben Heady, 17.
The leader of the prayer group, a pastor's son, walked up to the boy as he was firing, imploring him to stop, Bond said.
The boy kept firing but finally stopped and put down the gun, one bullet left in it. Bond arrived about that time and picked up the gun. The boy surrendered calmly to the principal.
Ben Strong, the prayer group leader, said the boy hung out with people who claimed not to believe in God, and that the group would sometimes heckle the morning worshippers.
"I ran up to him and I just kind of pushed him against the wall," said Strong, who was warned by the gunman not to be in the lobby Monday. "And he was, like, 'I can't believe I'd do this.' Because he shot one of his friends who was just a few feet away. Because he wasn't aiming at any person. And he said, 'Kill me now,' or something like that."
Strong said he never dreamed something like this would happen when the boy warned him last week.
After the shooting ended, Heady said, "people were just laying on the ground. People were screaming, running out of the hall. ... The shooter was just standing there like he didn't care what happened."
Fifteen-year-old Kayce Steger died at Lourdes Hospital in nearby Paducah about 45 minutes after the shooting. Seventeen-year-old Jessica James died in surgery at Western Baptist Hospital Monday afternoon.
Nicole Hadley, 14, remained critically wounded and on life support. She "was in the process of declaration of brain death," according to a Western Baptist Hospital spokeswoman.
A boy, 15, and three girls -- ages 14, 15, and 16 -- were hospitalized in stable condition with gunshot wounds. A boy, 17, was treated for injuries and released.
"Something big was going to happen"
Sheriff Frank Augustus Augustus said the suspect acquired the gun used in the shooting -- a .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun -- during a burglary at a home on Thanksgiving Day.
He also entered the school with earplugs, two shotguns and two .22-caliber rifles. Those weapons were wrapped in a blanket. The boy had gotten them into the school saying they were props for a science project, Augustus said.
Bond said the boy had told other students last week that "something big was going to happen," but they took it to mean he planned a prank.
"He's a very intelligent young man," Bond said. "He had some minor problems, but he's never been suspended from school."
Heady said the shooter had been watching the daily prayer group for several days, leaning up against a trophy case in the school lobby. Parents who rushed to the school said the boy had made threats in the past.
Heath High, just west of Paducah, has an enrollment of 550 students in grades nine through 12. Classes were dismissed for the day after the shootings.
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