Before you continue
This case involves crimes against children. Casepin presents the record in neutral, non-graphic language. Choose whether to continue.
Solved case · 1993
The short answer
On January 18, 1993, 17-year-old Gary Scott Pennington shot and killed his teacher Deanna McDavid and custodian Marvin Hicks at East Carter High School in Grayson, Kentucky, then held classmates hostage for about 15 minutes before surrendering.
The coverage index
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for 1993 East Carter High School shootingThe case file
On Monday, January 18, 1993, a shooting occurred at East Carter High School in Grayson, Kentucky. At approximately 2:45 p.m., 17-year-old student Gary Scott Pennington entered his seventh-period English classroom carrying a .38-caliber revolver that belonged to his father, concealed in a duffel-bag-style backpack. He fired at his teacher, Deanna McDavid; his first shot missed, and McDavid screamed, "What are you doing, Scott?" His second shot struck her in the forehead and was fatal. Some students initially believed the incident was a staged skit connected to McDavid's drama club.
Head custodian Marvin Hicks and social studies teacher Jack Calhoun entered the classroom after hearing the shots. Pennington fatally shot Hicks in the abdomen and pointed the gun at Calhoun without firing. Witnesses said Hicks pushed a female student out of the way before he was shot. Pennington then held the remaining students hostage, with some recalling threats against other students and others recalling statements that he intended to kill himself. He released students in small groups, with the final five hostages leaving the classroom at 3:01 p.m. Pennington then walked out and surrendered to police officers waiting in the hallway.
Deanna McDavid, born January 19, 1944, in Olive Hill, Kentucky, was a senior English teacher and drama club director at East Carter High School. She had previously taught in Akron, Ohio, for 14 years before returning to Carter County in 1981, and lived in Grayson with her husband and three children. Marvin Hicks, born in 1941 in Olive Hill, Kentucky, had worked as head custodian at the school for nine years and lived in Olive Hill with his wife.
Pennington had moved with his family from Elliott County to Carter County in August 1992 and reportedly resented the move. His family experienced poverty, lacking adequate plumbing and electricity; his father was an unemployed former coal miner receiving disability payments. Pennington had a strong academic record, including participation in academic competitions from an early age. He reportedly developed a grudge against McDavid after she gave him a "C" on an essay about Stephen King's novel "Rage," whose plot concerns a student who takes his class hostage; McDavid had raised concerns about his writing with colleagues. Pennington later said he did not personally dislike McDavid but intended to kill two people to become eligible for the death penalty.
A Carter County grand jury indicted Pennington on two counts of second-degree murder and 22 counts of kidnapping on June 15, 1993. The trial venue was moved twice due to difficulty seating an impartial jury. Opening arguments began February 9, 1995; Pennington pleaded guilty but mentally ill, was convicted, and on February 28, 1995, was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for 25 years. He was later convicted in a separate case of first-degree assault after an April 2014 incident at Kentucky State Penitentiary in which he seriously assaulted a contract food service employee; in July 2015 he received an additional 20-year sentence for that offense.
6 dated entries · 1993–2015
Gary Scott Pennington fatally shoots teacher Deanna McDavid and custodian Marvin Hicks at East Carter High School and holds classmates hostage before surrendering to police.
A Carter County grand jury indicts Pennington on two counts of second-degree murder and 22 counts of kidnapping.
Opening arguments begin in Pennington's trial.
Pennington pleads guilty but mentally ill, is convicted, and is sentenced to life in prison without parole for 25 years.
Pennington seriously assaults a contract food service employee at Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville.
Pennington is convicted of first-degree assault in Lyon County and sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison.
3 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
English teacher and drama club director fatally shot by Gary Scott Pennington[3]
Head custodian fatally shot by Gary Scott Pennington[3]
Pleaded guilty but mentally ill and was convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of Deanna McDavid and Marvin Hicks; later convicted of first-degree assault for a 2014 prison assault[3]
From the record
3 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Official / agencyustreas.govAccessed Jul 7, 2026
PressPeopleAccessed Jul 7, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 7, 2026
Trust
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
Near this case
SOLVEDListenSouthern Ohio Correctional Facility, Lucasville, Ohio · 2010s
Dennis McGuire, convicted of the 1989 rape and murder of Joy Stewart in West Alexandria, Ohio, was executed on January 16, 2014, using an untested two-drug combination that led to a prolonged, widely criticized process lasting over 25 minutes.
Credit: Family photo via Find A Grave; reproduced by The Cinemaholic·Editorial use·SourceSOLVEDListenPikeville, Kentucky, United States · 1980s
Susan Smith, a young FBI informant from Kentucky, was strangled in June 1989 by her handler and lover, FBI agent Mark Putnam, who later became the first FBI agent convicted of homicide.
SOLVEDListenMatewan, West Virginia · 1920s
On May 19, 1920, a shootout in Matewan, West Virginia, between coal miners and their allies and Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency agents left ten men dead, including detective agency founders' relatives, Matewan's mayor, and two miners, marking a pivotal moment in the West Virginia coal wars.
Credit: Ron Olsen·CC BY-SA 4.0·SourceSOLVEDListenThurston High School, Springfield, Oregon, United States · 1998
On May 21, 1998, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel opened fire in the cafeteria of Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, killing two students and wounding 25 others, a day after killing his parents at their home.
Credit: San Quentin State Prison, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation·Public domain·SourceSOLVEDListenLindhurst High School, Olivehurst, California · 1992
On May 1, 1992, a former student armed with a shotgun and a sawed-off rifle killed four people and wounded ten others at Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst, California, before holding dozens of students hostage in an eight-hour standoff.
SOLVEDListenHeath High School, West Paducah, Kentucky · 1997
On December 1, 1997, 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on a student prayer group at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, killing three students and wounding six others before surrendering to the school principal.
