Vigil set for Madison High School shooting

A prayer vigil will be held Wednesday, hosted by the the Ministerial Alliance, from 6:30 to 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 2910 Central Avenue, Middletown.

• Eighth grader accused of shooting 2 classmates in cafeteria
• 2 students injured by shrapnel or trying to exit cafeteria
• Students are expected to survive

The two students who were shot at Madison High School in Butler County, allegedly by a fellow student, are expected to survive.

The students who were shot have been identified as 15-year-old Cameron Smith and 14-year-old Cooper Caffrey.

They were taken to Miami Valley Hospital by CareFlight and were in stable condition Monday.

Dr. Peter Ekeh, a physician at Miami Valley Hospital, said Monday their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The victims were awake and alert after suffering injuries to thighs, backsides and upper extremities, Ekeh said. One of the victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds, he said.

As of Monday night, Smith and Caffrey were no longer listed as patients at Miami Valley Hospital, but details on their condition has not been made available.

Two other students were injured: 15-year-old Brant Murray and 14-year-old Katherine Douchette. They were taken by life squads to an area hospital. Those students injuries may have been from shrapnel or trying to exit the cafeteria after it happened, according to Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones.

More than 200 people, some wearing Madison High School sweatshirts, others Middie purple, held hands and prayed Monday night around a flagpole in front of Middletown High School.

The prayer vigil was held about seven hours after a Madison eighth-grader, James Austin Hancock, 14, allegedly shot two classmates in the cafeteria at Madison Jr./Sr. High. Two other students also were injured during the incident, though what caused those injuries was unknown, said Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones.

Rev. Lamar Ferrell, pastor of Berachah Church and a Middletown Division of Police chaplain, told the crowd to be thankful that no one was killed in the shooting.

“The enemy is real,” Ferrell said. “God is alive.”

While he said it’s easy after these type of incidents to “point fingers,” instead he challenged those at the prayer vigil to rely on God.

“We can either walk away in fear or march in faith,” he said.

He encouraged those to reach out to the “lost, lonely and left out” in the community, no matter their perceived differences.

Madison High School boys basketball coach Jeff Smith, who spoke with our reporter after the vigil, said he had just left the cafeteria “when I heard the pop, pop, pop.” He said they locked the students in a safe place. His players were in a different part of the building.

“My heart was racing. I saw the fear in the kids’ faces” as they ran for safety, Smith said. “When I saw their fear I knew we had a bad situation.”

Smith said he began praying and called his wife to let her know what was going on. “I called her and I told her I love and I had to be quiet” because that was part of the active shooter training.

Smith said he’s six years from retirement and admitted he is one of those who thought it would never happen in a place like Madison. “It blows your mind.”

The incident, he said, has taught him to “never take a day for granted because you never know what a day will bring.”

Smith said he’s grateful for the diligence of school administration that prepared him, other faculty and staff for what happened. ” I’m sure they prayed that it would never come, but it came.”

Also Monday evening, Spring Hill Church of Christ, on Brell Drive in Middletown, was open for anyone who wanted to come and pray in the aftermath of the incident.