Rural journalist rushed to the scene of school shooting and discovered her son was the suspect

Marshall County students at a prayer vigil the day after the shooting.
(Courier Journal photo)

A rural newspaper editor recently had a horrific connection with the news she was covering. When Mary Garrison Minyard, the editor of the online-only Marshall County Daily, arrived at the scene of last week's school shooting in Benton, Ky., she soon discovered that the alleged shooter was her son.

Her colleague Ann Beckett said she went to comfort Minyard and take over the story, Andrew Wolfson reports for the Louisville Courier Journal, which published suspect Gabe Parker's yearbook photo; his name has not been officially released, and the Daily has not published it.

Two students were fatally shot and 14 others wounded at Marshall County High School on Jan. 23. Parker, 15, has been charged as a juvenile with two counts of murder and 12 counts of assault. Prosecutors plan to have him tried as an adult.

A neighbor told the CJ that Minyard does not keep guns in her home. Minyard shared custody with Gabe's father, Austin Parker. Gabe's stepmother, Jennifer Lynn Parker, who divorced Parker following a domestic violence incident in 2016, said the elder Parker was "controlling and a bully" and has "always had a short fuse."

Classmates described Gabe as a quiet boy who was well-liked by others in the school band, but said he was "snappy" after Christmas break, and had talked about violence and and an interest in joining the Mafia. Other students said on social media that he may have been bullied, the CJ reports.