Shooting suspect ordered held in juvenile court

Associated Press

BENTON, Ky.

The 15-year-old accused of killing two classmates with a handgun in a school shooting that left 18 others bleeding and broken was ordered held Thursday on preliminary charges of murder and assault.

The juvenile court judge found probable cause to keep detaining the teenager as authorities gather evidence to support trying him as an adult for the attack at Marshall County High School, Assistant Marshall County Attorney Jason Darnall said.

And while the legal process began for the suspect, others in the small rural community sought to show solidarity with the victims.

Nearly 300 people, many faces visibly etched with pain, thronged a park Thursday evening and lit flickering candles for the victims. “It always happens somewhere else, you know, but this week it was our community,” said Misti Drew, an organizer of the vigil. With faces aglow from the candles, participants lofted banners and some wore T-shirts embossed with the words, “Marshall Strong.”

The mother of Bailey Nicole Holt, who died at the scene, said she got a call from her daughter’s phone, but couldn’t hear her.

“She called me and all I could hear was voices and chaos in the background and she couldn’t say anything,” Secret Holt told WKRN-TV in Nashville. “I called her name over and over and she never responded, so we rushed to the high school and they wouldn’t let us get through.”

Authorities are gathering evidence for a grand jury, hoping to discover why the suspect fired into a crowd of his classmates.