Kentucky school shooting leaves two dead, 17 injured

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Two people were killed and over a dozen injured on Tuesday when a 15-year-old student opened fire inside a high school in Kentucky in the latest US school shooting incident to hit the headlines.

The shooter, who remained unnamed, was later arrested by police. He will be charged with two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, Kentucky State Police said.

The shooting at Marshall County High School in Benton, southwestern Kentucky, began before classes started on Tuesday morning. The shooter, a student at the school, drew a handgun in a common area and began firing it at other students, witnesses said.

Those killed included a boy and a girl, both aged 15. Twelve other students were injured by the gunfire, while five sustained other injuries as chaos broke out, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin said.

Students attend a prayer vigil for students killed and injured after a 15-year-old boy opened fire with a handgun at Marshall County High School, Kentucky, the US on January 23.

Five of the injured were in critical condition, according to police.

Reports described a chaotic scene in the aftermath, with school bags, mobile phones and other belongings left strewn about after students ran for cover.

Benton is a small rural town of about 4,500 people but students at the 1,150-strong high school come from all over the surrounding county. Locals described it as a close-knit community.

"There's no good answer for it," Bevin told a press conference about the shooter’s motives, adding he had been detained in a "non-violent" manner.

"This is a wound that is going to take a long time to heal,” Bevin added.

The US has been plagued by mass shootings, including those at schools.

The deadliest remains the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting when a young man killed 26 people, mostly children at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Mourners in Newtown, Connecticut hold signs during a solidarity vigil in memory of victims of Las Vegas' Harvest music festival mass killing, October 4, 2017. /VCG Photo

Another shooting by two teenagers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado in 1999 left 13 people dead.

But there have been dozens of other cases of school shootings since then.

Reflecting how frequent such incidents have become in the US, the owner of a florist’s shop near Marshall County High School, Dusty Kornbacher, told AP on Tuesday: "It's shocking because you never think it's going to happen here… yet we're almost jaded because there's so many.”

“You're not all that surprised anymore, unfortunately," she said.

US President Donald Trump was briefed about the shooting and White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Tuesday: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the families there."

Vigils were planned on Tuesday and Wednesday at local churches.

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