On December 1, 1997 in Paducah, Kentucky, a fourteen year-old boy named Michael Carneal opened fire on a group of praying students at Heath High School. He was also a student of this high school. He killed three girls and injured five other students. Nicole Hadley, a fourteen-year-old freshman was alive until 10 pm at evening. She was in band and played basketball. Jessica James was a seventeen-year-old senior. She was a member of her schools marching band. Kayce Steger was a fifteen-year-old sophomore. She played clarinet in the school band and played softball. This shooting left an impact on the community and families of the victims, as well as our nation. Resulting from this event and many others just like it, security in our schools changed drastically.

     After this tragic event, it was very hard for the families to move on. Less than a year later, the families of the victims accepted a settlement for 42 million dollars, but they may never see the money. Carneal was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years. For the families, it wasn’t about the money. It was about the people they had lost. “The primary goal of the families when they filed suit was to learn as much as possible about why Michael Carneal shot eight students,” (Caravan 8)

The families didn’t want money. They wanted answers. The whole world wanted answers. After the shooting there was a lot of unanswered questions. What threw Carneal over the edge? What led him to shoot these girls and did he choose these particular women for a reason? Investigators stated that Carneal was bullied on a regular basis because of his small frame and physical weakness. He would bring different things to school to sell in attempt to make friends. “Carneal's name was published in a middle school paper gossip column claiming that he had feelings for another male student. This led to more name-calling, with students now calling him names such as "homo" and "faggot" among others” (Murderpedia 12). They also stated that Carneal had asked one of the victims of the shooting to go on a date with him several months before the shooting, but she said no. (Murderpedia 12).

     How could his family not have seen the warning signs? Several weeks before the shooting, Carneal stole a .38 Handgun from his parent’s room and attempted to sell it. During the attempt to sell, a student stole the gun threatening to tell police if he didn’t give it to him. He also stole several guns from his home, along with his friend’s home. On the afternoon of Thanksgiving day, Carneal went into a friend’s home, broke into the garage and stole four .22 rifles, a 30-30 rifle, a .22 and 12-gauge ammunition and earplugs, a rugar .22 pistol and several .22 magazines. The next day he stole two shotguns from his own home, out of his father’s closet and hid them under his bed. Carneal even said in school the week before the shooting that “something big is going to happen on Monday”. But no one took him seriously (murderpedia 15-16,18).

     The parents of the students killed asked the judge to give Carneal the maximum sentence and said that Carneal had changed their lives forever. Classmates of the girls spoke in court directly to Carneal. Stating they didn’t care if he was sorry. Their classmates only called him a few names and they never did anything to him. They said they hope he gets the death penalty because he chose the death penalty for those innocent girls (murderpedia 19).

     Until the later 1990’s, school shootings were almost unheard of. In the 90’s alone, there were 71 school shootings just in the United States. Since these attacks started occurring, school security has greatly increased. So, how are schools increasing security? It starts with their faculty. They run background checks on all their employees as well as on their student teachers. Now, schools each have their own police officer on guard. Some schools have metal detectors. They also have banned bags. Limiting their students to clear or mesh bags and backpacks. Some have teachers standing in the hallways of their classrooms looking for specious things on the students like hats, large bags or heavy jackets. There’s people outside in the mornings making sure nothing happens outside. Not all the doors are locked at all times. Most of the time if you come into school after they close the doors in the morning you have to check in the front office. Schools have invested in security cameras in their hallways and exteriors of the buildings. (Stokes 7).

     The Paducah school shooting left an impact on the community of west Paducah, the state of Kentucky and the nation as a whole. The effect that Mr. Carneal left for those families, will never be forgotten. No amount of money won in a settlement and no amount of time he will serve will ever be enough to bring those families closure or peace.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

“How School Security Has Changed Since Columbine and 

     How it has Stayed the Same.” knkx.

     29 Oct, 2014. knkx.org. Accessed 5 December, 2016.

 

“Michael Adam Carneal.” murderpedia. 1998,

     murderpedia. Accessed 5 December, 2016.

 

“Paducah Families Accept Shooting Settlement.”

     abcnews. 3 Aug. 2000, abcnews.go.com.

     Accessed 5 December, 2016.