Kentucky High School Shooting: Preston Cope's Family Made it To School in Time to Say Goodbye

The family of a teen who was killed during a shooting at a Kentucky high school earlier this week said they had their chance to say goodbye after rushing to the scene.

Preston Cope, 15, was shot in the head when another 15-year-old student opened fire at Marshall County High School. Cope was one of two students killed, and at least 18 others injured on Tuesday.

After hearing news of the shooting, Preston’s parents said they rushed to the school and spotted their son in an ambulance due to the Nike socks he’d been wearing, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

The parents had rushed through a sea of people to see their son lying on a stretcher with his head wrapped in bandages and they said they were able to tell him goodbye.

“There are so many obstacles that could have prevented me from getting there. I could’ve been in a wreck, I could’ve had a flat tire, anything,” Brian Cope, Preston’s father, told the Louisville Courier-Journal on Thursday. “But I’m firm in my faith that God guided us safely through all of that to get us there, so we could speak to our baby and just let him know we loved him. … He was such a good son. I told him that.”

Preston later died on a flight to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.

Classmate Bailey Nicole Holt, 15, died at the scene of the shooting after she reportedly made one last call to her mother.

The alleged shooter has been formally charged with two counts of murder and 12 counts of first-degree assault, authorities said.

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