The threat of an active shooter brought law enforcement, first responders and school administration to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Christian County Wednesday morning, and it was quickly determined the school was secure and students were safe.
It’s unclear at this time where the threat originated from, but the call of an active shooter threat came in at 10:32 a.m. Wednesday and officers with both the Hopkinsville Police Department and Christian County Sheriff’s Department arrived on scene to assist the School Resource Officer within two minutes. Hopkinsville Police Chief Jason Newby says he’s proud of how well everyone, from students to staff to parents and law enforcement responded, quickly working to make sure everyone was safe and accounted for.
CCPS Superintendent Chris Bentzel says the training they’ve had for school safety was in full affect and everyone did exactly as they were supposed to, with a full sweep of the school completed twice.
Along with checking every individual classroom at MLK, officers also went to other schools in the district to make sure they were secure as well, with those buildings place on ‘high alert’ for a short time.
Bentzel says they couldn’t be prouder of how their students and staff responded.
A similar threat was investigated at a Martin Luther King Jr. School in Nashville Wednesday—Chief Newby says the department will thoroughly investigate the local threat to try and determine from where or who it came from.
No evidence of any shots being fired was found, and along with headcounts of students, the outside perimeter and vehicles in the parking lot were also checked. Parents were welcome to check out their students at MLK for the remainder of the day, and Bentzel says they will have counselors on hand this week, should a student need them.
Along with HPD and CCSO, Christian County Emergency Management, the Hopkinsville Fire Department and EMS, Hopkins and Trigg County Emergency Management all assisted at the scene.
Listen to the entire press conference with HPD, CCSO and CCPS below:
https://www.facebook.com/ChristianCountyPublicSchools/videos/713974787225043