WASHINGTON, DC – The Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime, a division of the Office of Justice Programs, today announced it has awarded a $408,599 Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program grant to the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet to assist victims of the 2018 mass shooting at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky.
“We remain shocked and deeply saddened that two young lives were taken and so many others forever changed by such a sudden and senseless act,” said OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan. “We empty our hearts to the families of the students who died that terrible day and pledge our continued support to the survivors and to the entire community of Benton.”
On January 23, 2018, two students were killed and 14 others were injured in a shooting in a common area of the school. Four other students were injured during the chaos that ensued and an estimated 250 students were eyewitnesses directly threatened by the shooting. Funds will help the Marshall County Board of Education and the Marshall County Public Library meet victims’ needs in the aftermath of this tragedy. A significant portion of the AEAP award will fund new staff for the MC@Home program, an off-campus program for those students who cannot return to school (enrollment in the district dropped by 80 students following the incident). Funding will also be used to support the Community Table Project, which identifies victims’ needs to help with the healing process, and efforts by the library to archive and digitize items related to the incident.
“An entire high school campus was terrorized that January day and we continue to mourn for the lives that were taken and for those that were forever changed,” said Jessica Hart, Director of the Office for Victims of Crime. “As we offer our hand in support, we pray that the spirit of hope will long outlive the enormity of that terrible day.”
Since 1995, Office for Victims of Crime Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program grants have provided supplemental support to victims and jurisdictions that have experienced incidents of terrorism or mass violence. The funding comes from the Crime Victims Fund that is financed by fines and penalties paid by convicted federal offenders.
For more information on this grant program, visit https://www.ovc.gov/AEAP/