Law enforcement and school employees responded Wednesday morning to the possibility of an active shooter at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and later determined there was no threat.
Superintendent Chris Bentzel praised the Hopkinsville Police Department and Christian County Sheriff’s Department for a swift response after the school reported the threat.
“Training paid off,” Bentzel said in a press conference that was shown in a livestream Facebook video from the school.
Bentzel said the school received a call at approximately 10:30 a.m. “about a potential threat of an active shooter on campus.”
The school immediately went on lockdown and the threat was reported to emergency dispatch.
A school resource officer was on the campus and another Hopkinsville police officer arrived within a few minutes, followed by several more city police and sheriff’s deputies, according to reports by Bentzel and Hopkinsville Police Chief Jason Newby.
After entering the school, police officers canvassed every hallway to make sure all of the classroom doors were locked. After a search of the building and surrounding grounds was completed, officers went back and entered each classroom to confirm everyone was OK. Teachers had locked doors and turned off lights, said Newby.
Police also checked every vehicle in the parking lot, said Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Smith.
Newby said a similar threat was called into Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Nashville. News outlets in Nashville reported that officers responded to the threat at about 8:40 a.m. Officials in Nashville said the call was a hoax.
Newby said police will try to determine the source of the call and whether it was a hoax.
Parents who heard about the threat and drove to the school to check on their children were sent to the nearby Christian County Extension Office on Pembroke Road for reunification.
Shortly after the call was received, the district’s other schools were placed on high alert for a brief period, said Bentzel.
Several administrators went to MLK to help with the response and to answer questions from parents. Several counselors were also at the school, said Bentzel.
MLK Elementary serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and also houses Inspire Learning Academy, a childcare program that opened in August for employees of the school system.
The school is located on MLK Way between Pembroke Road and U.S. 68. It is roughly a 5-mile drive from downtown Hopkinsville.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
