---
title: "Kentucky school shooting leaves two students dead"
description: "A teenage gunman opened fire in a Kentucky high school on Tuesday, leaving two students dead and more than a dozen people wounded, the US state's governor said."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "AFP"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/afp/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-01-23-kentucky-school-shooting-leaves-two-students-dead/"
published: "2018-01-23T21:35:54"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 207
---

# Kentucky school shooting leaves two students dead

> A teenage gunman opened fire in a Kentucky high school on Tuesday, leaving two students dead and more than a dozen people wounded, the US state's governor said.

By AFP · Published 23 January 2018, 23:35 SAST

## Content

A 15-year-old student, now in custody, is alleged to have carried out the attack at the Marshall County High School in Benton, a small town in western Kentucky.

Two students -- both also aged 15 -- died of gunshot wounds, while 14 other people were shot and five suffered other injuries in the shooting, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin told a news conference.

One of the students died at the scene and the other after being airlifted to a hospital, he said.

"The shooter was a student, a 15-year-old male" who was apprehended in a "non-violent" manner, said Bevin.

"That student will be charged with both murder and attempted murder."

State police said the scene has been "secured," and that a sheriff's deputy had apprehended the shooter.

Students ran from the scene after hearing shots, the Marshall County Tribune-Courier newspaper reported on its Facebook page, adding that the school was placed on lockdown as the incident unfolded.

Students later were bused to a neighbouring school where parents could retrieve them, it said.

"This is a tremendous tragedy and speaks to the heartbreak present in our communities," Bevin said in an earlier statement. "It is unbelievable that this would happen in a small, close-knit community like Marshall County." DM