1997 Heath High School shooting

On the morning of December 1, 1997, Michael Carneal, a 14-year-old freshman at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, brought a shotgun and a rifle wrapped in a blanket, disguised as an art project, along with a loaded Ruger MK II .22-caliber pistol in his backpack. Arriving at school around 7:45 a.m. after riding with his sister, Carneal inserted earplugs, removed the pistol, and fired ten rounds in rapid succession at a student prayer group gathered in the school. Three students were killed and six others were wounded. Survivor Brittney Thomas recalled turning to find herself facing the barrel of the gun. Benjamin Strong, a member of the prayer group, testified that Carneal dropped the weapon on his own after the shooting and said, "Kill me, please." Carneal then surrendered to Principal Bill Bond.

The three students killed were Nicole Hadley, a 14-year-old freshman who was kept alive until that evening so her organs could be donated; Jessica James, a 17-year-old senior who died in surgery at Western Baptist Hospital; and Kayce Steger, a 15-year-old sophomore who died at Lourdes Hospital in Paducah about 45 minutes after the shooting. Six other students were wounded, including Shelley Schaberg, Melissa "Missy" Jenkins (who was paralyzed from the chest down), her twin sister Mandy Jenkins, Kelly Hard Alsip, Hollan Holm, and Craig Keene.

In the weeks before the shooting, Carneal had stolen firearms and ammunition from his own home and a neighbor's home, including four .22 rifles, a 30-30 rifle, ammunition, and earplugs taken from the neighbor's garage on Thanksgiving Day, as well as a Ruger .22 pistol and two shotguns. He had also stolen and attempted to sell a .38 caliber handgun weeks earlier and had told classmates that "something big is going to happen on Monday," which was not taken seriously. Carneal was later diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder and dysthymia, with some evaluators, including Kathleen O'Connor and later Dewey Cornell and Diane Schetky, revising the diagnosis to paranoid schizophrenia or schizophrenia.

In October 1998, Carneal's guilty plea was accepted on account of his mental illness, resulting in a sentence of life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. He has been incarcerated at the Kentucky State Reformatory since turning 18. Appeals in 2007 and 2012 seeking to withdraw his plea were denied by the Kentucky Supreme Court and the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, respectively. On September 26, 2022, a parole board unanimously denied Carneal's parole and ordered a "serve out" of his life sentence, meaning he cannot be considered for future parole hearings. Families of the deceased separately reached a $42 million settlement with Carneal, though he had no assets at the time. A related 1999 lawsuit against media and video game companies, alleging that violent media inspired the shooting, was dismissed in 2002.