Gage Johnson
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Threats made against Murray High School this week brought anxiety to Murray State students, including those who survived the 2018 Marshall County High School shooting. 

Local law enforcement received notification of a possible shots fired incident at Murray High School at 8:54 a.m. Monday.

Josh Eaton, a junior at Murray High, was about to pack up his things before the substitute teacher came around to sanitize their desks, which happens five minutes before the bell every day, when it was announced the school went into lockdown. 

Eaton’s class had been in a Google Meet with their teacher, who was working from home because of the coronavirus, and most students were finishing up classwork or getting ready to leave for their next class.

“I thought nothing of it because we usually have drills right before transition periods,” Eaton said. “I noticed that the lockdown was lasting a little longer than a drill and the frantic nature of our sub as she tried to cover up one of the two windows in the room, whose blinds weren’t falling, kind of keyed me into how something might be askew. It wasn’t until 15-ish minutes after we went into lockdown that I checked my phone and saw in a group chat with my friends what the theories for the lockdown were.”

Eaton said he wasn’t scared initially because he didn’t hear gunshots. Despite the quick and effective response by school staff at Murray High to go into lockdown, it didn’t stop him from thinking “what if?”

“I did start to think about what I would do if someone started knocking down our door without announcing they were law enforcement,” Eaton said. “I was in a classroom with a window, so I was pretty confident in my ability to escape if I needed, but I also thought about what we could use to barricade the door if needed.”

Eaton and his classmates went into a modified lockdown and finished their assignments once law enforcement had cleared the school campus. Those students were allowed to leave for the day following the modified lockdown.

Meanwhile, at Murray State’s campus, word began to spread with no Racer Alert to be found. For students like Gabe Steffen, freshman musical theater major who was a survivor of the Marshall County High School shooting, the news hit all too close to home.

Steffen — the opinion editor for The News — was in his dorm room when he learned about the reports of a possible active shooter at Murray High School through The News’ staff. Steffen said he immediately turned on the police scanner to see if it was true.

“Eventually I heard someone say potential active shooter, and I went ‘Okay, I guess we’re going full storm,’” Steffen said. “My anxiety went up and my adrenaline kicked in and I was like ‘Okay, I gotta do this, I gotta do my job.’ I thought I was going to cry because I know the experience, and I was like ‘Jesus, not again.’”

Steffen said he was worried the potential shooter would come to Murray State. When Steffen learned it was a false alarm, he felt very relieved.

“I was happy that it didn’t happen, but the big thing is the fact that counties all around us went into lockdown, including Marshall County, which had just had their mark three days ago, and yet Murray State, despite not even being a mile away from Murray High School, didn’t go into lockdown,” Steffen said. “They didn’t take any lockdown precautions, and that really kind of rubbed me the wrong way because the thing is campus knows that they now have students who were present at the Marshall County High School shooting.”

Steffen said if there had truly been an active shooter, this could have made the PTSD cases worse for the students who were at Marshall County, as well as a potential for new people to go through a horrific event.

Murray State Police Chief Jeff Gentry said there wasn’t a need for a lockdown at Murray State’s campus and that there are plans in place if a lockdown would need to be enforced.

“The decision was made to not impose a shelter in place on campus because it was quickly determined that shots were not fired and that there was no imminent threat to our campus,” Gentry said. “The University follows shelter in place procedures, which is a concept that allows members of the community to find a place of refuge during a variety of emergency situations”

Murray High received a bomb threat at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, one day after the lockdown. While a Racer Alert was sent out to the Murray State community, Eaton said he thought the high school was having a precautionary drill after Monday’s threat.

“Right after announcements, we were told to leave our stuff and go to the track, which is on campus but away from the building. I thought it was a drill,” Eaton said. “I thought, ‘Oh, there was a threat yesterday, maybe we need to be prepared for more serious threats like this so we’re practicing.’ After all, we had never actually done our bomb threat procedure in a drill, only talked about it. I didn’t think something was wrong until the busses pulled up next to the track and the students who rode the bus to school were told to board.” 

Multiple law enforcement agencies searched the building Tuesday morning, and school administrators dismissed the students. Police cleared the building shortly after 11 a.m.

“I definitely don’t think it was a coincidence,” Eaton said. “I think someone wanted to poke the bear and see what happened. Whoever it was has seen what they wanted to now and I don’t know what they’ll do with this info, but if the last two days have proven anything, they’ve proven that MHS and the Calloway County law enforcement are ready for both of these  situations, God forbid they ever happen again. Or who knows, maybe someone didn’t want to take a test today. Regardless, I think that even if it wasn’t the same person, the two are related in how someone was being curious.” 

Murray High School administrators have moved all classes to a virtual setting until Monday, Feb. 1, for extra precaution and while Eaton said he would much rather be physically at school, he understands the decision. 

“I wish there was a way for school to keep going despite the possibility of threats and for us to show some resistance in this situation, but maybe this is how we do that,” Eaton said. “Maybe us continuing online is how we present ourselves as untouchable to this new obstacle. After all, what keeps someone from canceling school every day with a bomb threat?”

The Murray Police Department continues to investigate both threats.

“The Murray Police Department and Murray High School did a great job handling this situation and I commend all first responders for their commitment to our community; all law enforcement agencies are committed to the safety of each individual,” Gentry said. “We conducted an active shooter training last year for faculty and staff which is on the Murray State Police Department website. Members of our campus community may also request an active shooter response training session from the Murray State Police Department by calling (270) 809-2222.”

The University website has the procedures for situations like a bomb threat or active shooter listed at www.murraystate.edu/headermenu/Offices/police/racerAlert/shelter.aspx.