A 15-year-old boy accused of killing two students in a shooting at a Kentucky high school last month will be tried as an adult, state police said Friday.
A grand jury indicted Gabriel R. Parker on two counts of murder and 14 counts of first-degree assault in the January 23 shooting at Marshall County High School in western Kentucky, police said in a statement.
He was arraigned Friday at the Marshall County Circuit Court. His bond was set at $1.5 million, according to The Courier-Journal in Louisville.
Before the arraignment, Parker was held in a juvenile detention facility and had not been identified.
In Kentucky, a suspect can be charged in an adult court if a judge rules the case meets certain criteria, officials said.
Parker is accused of opening fire on his classmates, killing Bailey Holt and Preston Cope, both 15, and wounding 18 others.
The victims ranged from 14 to 18, state police said. Fourteen were male and six female.
Bailey died at the high school while Preston died en route to a Nashville hospital.
Following the shooting, the school has begun using metal detector wands and is conducting bag checks as a precaution, CNN affiliate WZTV reported.
“I feel so much safer and actually want to go to school,” a student, Trevor Comer told WZTV.