Today marks 26 years since the shooting at Heath High School

Friday, December 1st marks 26 years since the shooting at Heath High School where three students were killed and five others were injured.

A then 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on his fellow students during a before-school prayer meeting in 1997. Three students died and five more were injured.

At the time, school shootings were not yet a part of the national consciousness.  In a scene that seems unimaginable today, Carneal put down his weapon after the shooting and the principal walked him to the school office.

Also stretching today’s imagination — Carneal’s life sentence guaranteed an opportunity for parole after 25 years, the maximum sentence permissible at the time given his age. 

Carneal will have to spend the rest of his life in prison without another opportunity to seek parole after the Kentucky Parole Board voted 7-0 to deny parole in September of 2022. That panel deliberated in private for just 30 minutes.

Carneal told parole board members that he still hears voices like the ones that told him to steal a neighbor’s pistol and fire it into the crowded lobby of the school. However, Carneal said that with therapy and medication, he has learned to control his behavior.

We remember the three killed in the shooting: 14-year-old Nicole Hadley, 17-year-old Jessica James, and 15-year-old Kayce Steger, and all those impacted by Carneal's actions on that day.