Mass shooting directly affects community and business

LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – Saturday’s mass shooting on I-75 impacted drivers on the road and in the community where it happened.

CD Morton, Superintendent of Harlan Independent said students from his school district were returning from a band competition when their bus got stuck on the interstate for 3 hours.

“There was just a general level of concern and anxiousness and really just eagerness to get the bus moving and headed south so that they could be reunited with their families,” Morton said.

Morton said the students did not witness the shooting happen or hear any gunshots. There were 14 students on the bus and two adults, the bus driver and the band director. The students were able to contact their loved ones and let them know they were okay. He also says the bus driver happens to be a school guidance counselor.

“I knew they were in great hands, had a great bus driver and the band director is very capable of handling these kinds of situations,” Morton said.

The shooting happened near Exit 49. Just off of that exit is family-owned Warzone Paintball.

A group was in the middle of a paintball session when police placed everyone into lockdown for hours.

“We had some players shooting because it’s a paintball facility, we hear paintball shots all the time, we don’t know what’s going on,” Angela Chavez, manager at Warzone Paintball said.

Chavez said a lot of their employees and players were outside in the field and in the woods at the time of the shooting. Everyone had to go inside and stay put.

“We were all just terrified. Everyone was scared, everyone was just calling their family, their friends, telling them that they’re okay,” Chavez said.

Both Chavez and Morton say they are thankful everyone was okay and send their support to the victims and their families.

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