Her sister died in the Paducah school shooting: 'I couldn't believe this could happen again'

The school shooting in Marshall County Tuesday morning took Christina Hadley Ellegood’s breath away.

Twenty years and one month ago, her younger sister, Nicole, was one of three students killed at Paducah's Heath High School when 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on students standing in a prayer circle.

“I couldn’t believe this could happen to our small community again,” said Ellegood, 36, a paralegal in Paducah. “I was totally shocked. I told my boss it had to be a joke.”

Ellegood, who helped raise money to erect a memorial to the Heath victims last month, said she has reached out to those responding to Tuesday’s shooting to offer her help.

“I have people from Heath on standby,” she said. “We know what these people are going through more than anyone.”

On Dec. 1, 1997, Carneal wrapped a shotgun and a rifle in a blanket and took them to school, passing them off as an art project. He also carried a loaded pistol in his backpack. When he arrived, he inserted earplugs and took the pistol from his bag, firing into the prayer group.

Nicole, Jessica James and Kayce Steger were killed instantly. Students Missy Jenkins, Shelley Schaberg, Kelly Hard Alsip, Hollan Holm and Craig Keene were also struck by gunfire but survived. Missy Jenkins Smith, as she is known now, has had to use a wheelchair since that day.

Before Heath High, school shootings were rare in the United States.

Carneal is serving a sentence of life without parole for 25 years at the Kentucky State Reformatory.

Heath High School, about 35 miles from Marshall County High School, is now a middle school.

Ellegood organized a service last month to mark the 20th anniversary of the shootings and for a ribbon cutting for a new memorial across the street from the school.

The memorial was built in the shape of the circle, in remembrance of the circle of students shot that day. Five benches inside the memorial represent the five surviving victims.

“I can’t believe this happened again, so close to home,” said Ellegood, who was 19 months older than her sister.

Carneal, who pleaded guilty but mentally ill to murder and attempted murder, later told a reporter he couldn’t give a single explanation for his crimes. He said contributing factors included his mistaken belief that his parents didn't love him and taunting from other students, including some who falsely claimed he was gay.

“People want one simple answer — I can't give it,” he said in a 2002 interview.

He said he never looked at who he was shooting and didn’t know who they were until he read it in the paper.

He also said he blamed himself for subsequent school shootings around the country, especially the 1999 attack at Columbine High School in which 13 people were killed and 23 wounded. He said he felt so guilty about possibly inspiring that crime that he attempted suicide several times.

“I thought if I killed myself I would make the world a better place,” he said. But he said he realized he couldn’t change anything by dying, or anything else.

“I wish I could change things, but I can't,” he said.

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/andreww.