Campbell County school shooting survivor shares story:
One of the surviving victims of the Campbell County High School shooting, Assistant Principal Jim Pierce, decided to share his story with the local media. I’ll just quote the highlights…
“After a little discussion, bang, bang, bang,” Pierce describes what happened. “It was quick.”
Pierce, now recovering at home, says he tackled Bartley after a few shots had been fired.
The next thing he remembers is seeing Bartley tied up.
A teacher peeling Pierce off the floor told him to hang on and keep breathing.
“I know if someone didn’t do something, we were all doomed,” Pierce explained. “I just jumped to grab him, and I think that’s when he shot me.”
The bullet that grazed Pierce’s hand came close to killing him.
“It came through the back of my arm, through my side and it collapsed both my lungs,” he pointed to the scars. “I’ve never experienced that kind of pain before.”
This is the first time in 36 years of teaching Pierce has used his sick days for illness.
Pierce is left wondering why a student whose father was a boyhood friend would want to hurt him.
“We ran around together,” Pierce said of Kenneth, Sr. “I really hadn’t met Kenny Junior until he enrolled him at the high school. He introduced him because we were friends growing up.”
Other than that introduction, Pierce said the two had waved at each other in the hallway.
Both Pierce and Seale will carry bullets forever. Pierce isn’t sure how he feels about having it lodged behind his aorta.
He says he doesn’t have any hard feelings towards the alleged shooter but thinks he does need help.
He’s definitely a bigger man than me.
