Weapon in the wrong hands

Heath High School Shooting

Heath High School is located in the state of Kentucky and tragedy struck on December 1, 1997, when a 14-year-old came into the school with a loaded Ruger MK II .22- Caliber pistol and carried a shotgun and rifle in a blanket.

That 14-year-old is Micheal Carneal, who put on earplugs into his ears and took the pistol out of his backpack at 7:45 am.

Carneal fired ten rounds at a youth group of students, resulting in the death of 3 girls and the injuries of 5 other students.

After the shooting, Carneal dropped the pistol and surrounded the principal, Bill Bond. Carneal reportedly said " Kill me, please. I can't believe I did that"

Micheal Adam Carneal was a freshman at the high school. Carneal told reporters that he could not give a single explanation for his crimes and that contributing factors included a mistaken belief that his parents did not love him, taunting from classmates, and false claims he was gay. He stated that he did not know who he was aiming at until he read the names in the paper.

Apparently, weeks before the incident, Carneal stole a .38 caliber handgun from his parent's room and tried to sell it. A student took the gun and threatened to tell the police if Carneal did not give it to him. Carneal had told students that something would happen on Monday but no one took him seriously. Carneal had stolen firearms from his parents and neighbor.

Those firearms were:

Four .22 riflesA 30-30 rifle.22 and 12 gauge ammunitionEarplugs

Later, he stole:

A Ruger .22 pistolSeveral .22 magazines

Presumably, sometime after Thanksgiving Day, Carneal stole two shotguns from his father's closet and hid them under his bed.

Carneal was bullied by other students and had anxiety, depression, and severe paranoia. Following the shooting, Carneal was diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder and dysthymia.

Dewey Cornell and Diane Schetky, who evaluated Carneal after the shooting, later changed their diagnosis to schizophrenia. He has been hospitalized several times since the start of his incarceration due to psychosis and takes the anti-depressant Zoloft and Geodon, an anti-psychotic used to treat schizophrenia.

In October 1998, a plea of guilty from Michael Carneal was accepted due to his mental illness. Under a plea arrangement, the judge agreed to accept the pleas on the condition that Carneal would receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole in 25 years.

He was originally scheduled to be eligible for parole on November 16, 2022. However, his hearing was rescheduled and began on September 19, 2022. On September 26, 2022, the parole board unanimously denied Carneal's bid for parole and ordered him to serve out the remainder of his life sentence.

Due to the evil act that he did, those killed could not live their lives. Those killed were:

Nicole Hadley: 14-year-old freshman who was in the school band and freshman basketball team. She was kept alive till 10 pm. Her parents donated her organs. President Bill Clinton cited this "courageous decision" in his Proclamation 7083 on National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week in 1998Jessica James: 17-year-old student and member of the marching band. She died in surgery at Western Baptist Hospital on the afternoon of the shooting. Kayce Steger: 15-year-old sophomore, a clarinetist in the school band, and member of the Agape Club and softball team. She passed away 45 minutes after the shooting. She was an honor student and member of Law Enforcement Explorers Post 111, who hoped to be a police officer.

Those wounded were:

Shelley Schaberg: 17 years old and described by the school principal as the best female athlete. Voted Miss Heath High School by the senior class, Shelley was homecoming queen. Although her injuries from the shooting prevented her from playing basketball, her college honored her basketball scholarship and she went on to play college soccer.Melissa "Missy" Jenkins: 15 years old abducted was president of the Future Homemakers of America. Became paralyzed from the chest down after being shot. Appeared on numerous national and local television shows, talked to newspaper reporters, and appeared in two TV commercials for Channel One News, an educational channel that reaches schools throughout the country. A video interview of her was featured on the homepage of YouTube.com on April 22, 2007Kelly Hard Alsip: 16 years old and member of the softball team and a future homemaker of America. The year after the shooting, she transferred to a local catholic school. Hollan Holm: 14 years old, member of the Academic team, the Spanish club, and science Olympiad. In 2001, he was the valedictorian and in his speech, he told everyone that they lost two class members: Nicole Hadley and Micheal Carneal (shooter). Holm became involved with organizations that urge students to speak up if they know of threats against schools or students. Craig Keene: 15 years old and member of the Agape Club, the band and basketball team.

Family of the victims organized a 20th-anniversary service to commemorate the victims and open a memorial for the victims placed across the street from the school. The memorial was built in a circle to symbolize the prayer circle that was targeted, with five benches representing the five surviving victims.

This Case shows another example of,

Weapons in the wrong hands