Four dead in Georgia school shooting

5/9/2024 5:48

        Four people were killed in a
        shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday just weeks after
        classes began, and a suspect was taken into custody, law
        enforcement officials said.
        
        The shooting was the first of the new school year in the
        United States, and served as a stark reminder to students,
        teachers and parents of the threat of gun violence in schools
        and colleges across the nation.
        
        The shooting left four dead at Apalachee High School in
        Winder, Georgia, and nine people were taken to hospitals with
        injuries, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation posted on X.
        
        One suspect was in custody, the Barrow County Sheriff's
        Office said in a statement. CNN, citing an unnamed source,
        reported that the suspect was a 14-year-old boy.
        
        "What we see behind us is an evil thing today," Sheriff Jud
        Smith said during a brief news conference on school grounds.
        
        Smith would not confirm that people were killed, saying only
        there were "multiple injuries" in the shooting.
        
        The incident, which took place at the school about 50 miles
        (80 km) northeast of Atlanta, appeared to be under control and
        students were being released at midday, a Barrow County Schools
        spokesperson said.
        
        Local TV stations broadcast images of parents lining up in
        cars on a road outside the school, hoping to be reunited with
        their children. The school, which had an enrollment of nearly
        1,900 last year, began classes on Aug. 1.
        
        Sheriff Smith said the first call law enforcement received
        about a shooting at the school came about 9:30 a.m., which would
        have been just over an hour after classes had started for the
        day.
        
        CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported that the school had
        received a phone call warning of the shooting before it took
        place. The school district said it had no comment on whether
        such a call was received.
        
        ABC News quoted a witness, student Sergio Caldera, as saying
        he was in chemistry class when he heard gunshots. Caldera, 17,
        told ABC his teacher opened the door and another teacher ran in
        to tell her to shut the door "because there's an active
        shooter."
        
        As students and teachers huddled in the room, someone
        pounded on his classroom door and shouted several times for it
        to be opened. When the knocking stopped, Caldera heard more
        gunshots and screams. He said his class later evacuated to the
        school's football field.
        
        Live aerial TV images showed several ambulances outside of
        the high school.
        
        CNN said it witnessed a patient being loaded into a medical
        helicopter that had landed at the school.
        
        "Multiple law enforcement agencies and Fire/EMS personnel
        were dispatched to the high school in reference to a reported
        active shooting," the sheriff's office said.
        
        The FBI field office in Atlanta dispatched agents to the
        high school to support local law enforcement, said Jenna
        Sellitto, a spokeswoman for the office.
        
        
        
        BIDEN CALLS FOR GUN SAFETY LEGISLATION
        The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had
        been briefed on the shooting "and his administration will
        continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials
        as we receive more information."
        
        "Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives
        were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking
        of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed," Biden
        said in a statement, calling on Republicans to work with
        Democrats to pass "common-sense gun safety legislation."
        
        Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee
        for president, called the shooting a "senseless tragedy."
        
        "We've gotta stop it. We have to end this epidemic of gun
        violence," Harris said at the start of a campaign event in New
        Hampshire.
        
        The campaign of former President Donald Trump, the
        Republican nominee for president, did not immediately respond to
        requests for comment on the shooting.
        
        The shooting was the first "planned attack" at a school this
        fall, said David Riedman, who runs the K-12 School Shooting
        Database. Apalachee students returned to school last month; many
        other students in the U.S. are returning this week.
        The U.S. has seen hundreds of shootings inside of schools and
        colleges in the past two decades, with the deadliest resulting
        in over 30 deaths at Virginia Tech in 2007. The carnage has
        sparked pitched debate over the U.S. gun laws and the U.S.
        Constitution's Second Amendment, which enshrines the right "to
        keep and bear arms."