TEEN FAILS SCHOOL DRUG TEST, SHOOTS PARENTS, GRANDMOTHER
By Lee Mueller
A Pike County student's failed drug test at East Ridge High School triggered a chain of events yesterday that led to five deaths, including his own, authorities said.
Matthew Hackney, a senior, tested positive in a drug test and then went home and shot his parents and grandmother to death in their carport. He was later killed after he fled toward Pikeville on U.S. 460 and crashed head-on into a pickup driven by an Elkhorn City employee, who also died, authorities said.
State police identified the shooting victims as Hackney's parents, Ivan L., 47, and Shirley Hackney, 44, and grandmother, Wilma Childers Hackney, 63. Local residents identified the Elkhorn City worker as Terry Taylor, 41. Police were unsure of Matthew Hackney's age, but said he was "about 17."
The bodies of the three shooting victims were found about 3:45 p.m. lying several feet apart at a residence on E and R Road in Elkhorn City, said Mike Maynard, a paramedic for the Elkhorn City Ambulance Service. Maynard said all three had been shot multiple times, apparently with a high-caliber rifle.
Police were able to locate Hackney as he was driving north on U.S. 460. Hackney was about 10 miles from Elkhorn City when, about 3:50 p.m., he crashed into a city-owned pickup driven by Taylor at the mouth of Powell's Creek. Both drivers died at the scene, state police said.
Between the two events, Hackney stopped at Pizza Plus of Belcher to see a childhood friend, Christa Coleman, 18, of Lick Creek, who works in the pizza shop.
"He just told me he killed them," Coleman said. "He said they had caught him with drugs and weed at school today. They had a drug test and he failed it and when they tried to arrest him, he ran."
State police said it was unclear how Hackney left the school.
"I'm not sure whether he left school with police officers or left school with parents," said Sgt. Steve Spurlock last night. "We're still trying to clarify all that."
East Ridge High Principal Ralph Kilgore could not be reached for comment.
Coleman said Hackney "was definitely on something" when he was talking with her.
Hackney did not give Coleman any details of the shooting, she said.
"He just told me he shot them until they died," she said.
Coleman, who graduated from East Ridge this year, said Hackney had asked her if he could come to her house and hide out for a few days "and I told him, 'No way.'" After he left, Coleman said she called state police.
Coleman, however, said Hackney "was on the war path."
Intoxicated student had been released to parents he later shot
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ELKHORN CITY - A 17-year-old high school student who shot his parents had been released to their custody after being cited for public intoxication at school, state police officials said today.
School officials said Matthew Hackney of Elkhorn Creek had taken prescription painkillers. Hackney was a senior at East Ridge High School in rural Pike County where counselors today were trying to help staff and students deal with the incident.
Hackney, who shot his parents and grandmother before crashing into a pickup truck killing the driver and himself, was never in trouble at school, said Pike County School Superintendent Frank Welch.
Welch said students, teachers and administrators are devastated
"It's just a tragedy," Welch said. "When you talk to the teachers and the people who knew him, they say there wasn't a better student who ever went through that school than him.".
Welch said the teen told an assistant principal that he had taken five Ultrams, a prescription painkiller. "I don't think at this point in time they know exactly where he got them," Welch said.
Kentucky State Police Lieutenant Bobby Johnson said the teen was cited for public intoxication at the school shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday and released to the custody of his parents.
"His mother came and picked him up and took him home," Welch said of the Elkhorn Creek teen. "What happened from there, we don't know."
Johnson said it's not unusual for state police to be called to high schools on drug complaints. And, he said, it's not usual for students to be cited and released to the custody of their parents.
After telling a friend he had killed his parents and grandmother, Hackney fled toward Pikeville on U.S. 460. After police attempted to stop his vehicle, Hackney crashed head-on into a pickup driven by Terry A. Taylor, 41, an Elkhorn City employee and resident, about 3:50 p.m., authorities said.
At the teen's home, state police found the bodies of Ivan Hackney, 47, Shirley Hackney, 44, and Wilma Hackney, 63. All three had been shot to death, Johnson said.
Communities throughout eastern Kentucky have been wrestling with prescription drug abuse for years, and schools are not immune to the problem, Welch said.
"Every school has them, but some have a higher degree than others," he said. "If you've got it in society, it's going to touch your schools."
Pike county has a drug education program and also does random drug testing of students who are engaged in extracurricular activities or who drive automobiles to school.
Welch said Tuesday's tragedy highlights the devastating effects drugs have had on eastern Kentucky.
"We're all going to have to put our heads together and try to do something about slowing it down, and putting an end to it. If we don't, it's going to destroy our country."
_________________ Ode to a peppered-pumpkin tour with a bus driver who lured, killed, then ate his victims
Ultram affects you slightly more than aspirin, it's prescription but not even scheduled (though they probably will be after this). This guy was just plain nuts.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:59 am Posts: 18643 Location: Raleigh, NC Gender: Male
Citizen_Soma wrote:
goddamned USA, why wont you sink?
Kiwis just kill tourists.
Quote:
News of the murder of German tourist Birgit Brauer has shocked people in her home community in the former East German town of Dresden.
Ms Brauer died from multiple injuries, including significant head injuries and a stab wound to the chest.
The hitchhiker's body was found by a jogger near Lucy's Gully in Egmont National Park, near New Plymouth, on Tuesday evening.
The 28-year-old had been in this country since February on a working holiday.
The Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten (Dresden's local newspaper) police reporter, Thomas Harewig, said the news of Ms Brauer's death had shocked the community in the former East German town.
Mr Harewig said Ms Brauer had lived in a newly established suburb of Prohles, in an apartment block.
While the news of the young woman's death had come as a shock and tainted New Zealand's image in Germany, Mr Harewig said German people experienced crime in their own country and did not expect other places to be any different.
Police said yesterday they were hunting for a 4WD Toyota Hilux station wagon in connection with the killing.
Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward said the vehicle was a dark grey or black, mid to late 80s two-door model.
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