Calipari comments on Marshall County shooting: ‘We gotta come together as a country’

There was a moment of silence for the victims of the Marshall County High School shooting before the University of Kentucky’s basketball game against Mississippi State in Rupp Arena on Tuesday night.

Two students, both 15 years old, were killed in the shooting at the Western Kentucky high school Tuesday morning. Twelve others were wounded, and five more students were treated for injuries but were not shot, according to police.

After Tuesday night’s game, UK Coach John Calipari said he was “literally nauseous” when he looked up at the television in his office that morning and saw the news.

“Parents were racing there to get their children. Could you imagine that drive to that school not knowing if your child had been killed or not?” Calipari said. “I just welled up. ... I don’t know — probably there’s nothing I can say other than I’ll be praying for all of them tomorrow at Mass. I’ll take communion for them. Light a candle for them.

“What is going on?” he continued. “We gotta come together as a country. We gotta figure out this opioid issue. We gotta figure out this gun issue — is it a gun issue or a mental health issue? What the heck is it? It is something, and we all gotta come together, man. We finally got the government up and running, thank goodness. It’s an issue now. It’s happening over and over. C’mon.”

Calipari has attended the Marshall County Hoop Fest at the high school numerous times, including last month’s event.

“We got issues that we gotta deal with, and we’re not going to do them fighting each other,” he said. “And, ‘I win, you lose.’ Win win! How about that one? Win, win! Not, ‘I win, you lose.’ For all of us. If that makes sense.”

A suspect, also 15 years old, was arrested at the school. He will be charged with two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, said Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders.

“These children belong to this community and to specific families in this community,” Gov. Matt Bevin said. “And this is a wound that will take a long time to heal and, for some in this community, will never heal. Please respect these families.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Calipari comments on Marshall County shooting: ‘We gotta come together as a country’."