Authorities confirmed an active shooter incident this morning, at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, where 1,760 children were present at the time of the deadly rampage.
At least four casualties and nine injuries have been reported, and at least one suspect is in custody. One suspect was alive and taken into custody following the gunfire, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The suspect is a 14-year-old teenager, according to senior law enforcement officials, although it is unclear whether the suspect is affiliated with the school.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, addressed the deadly shooting at a Georgia high school that happened earlier in the day while speaking to voters in New Hampshire, calling it a “senseless tragedy,” thanking first responders, and calling for an end to the gun violence epidemic.
“This is just a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies, and it’s just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” said Harris. “We have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. You know, it doesn’t have to be this way. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart,” said President Joe Biden. “Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned the deadly shooting and joined in calling on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban and universal background checks.
The GOP nominee, disgraced former president Donald Trump. did not remark on the shooting and Representative Mike Collins, who represents the area where the school is located, attacked the Biden administration for threatening “the Constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans” by proposing common sense regulations intended to reduce gun violence.
“I am devastated to learn of the shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County this afternoon. Like many of you, I am anxiously watching for more details about this tragedy,” said Lexy Doherty, the Democrat running for Congress against Collins. “Georgia’s 10th Congressional District has been held by far-right extremists for too long. My opponent refuses to take down his tweets that (President) Biden ‘sent the orders’ to assassinate former (President) Trump.”
According to new polling by Brady, as students are returning to classrooms, an overwhelming 77 percent of parents are concerned their child’s school could be the site of a mass shooting.
A suspect is in custody after a shooting at a high school in Georgia that left four dead and nine more hospitalized, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The shooting took place Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta.
“We urge anyone near the area to stay clear while authorities investigate,” the GBI posted on social media just after noon.
Anti-gun-violence organizations released statements Wednesday afternoon about the Georgia school shooting, the latest episode among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas. .
The killings in classrooms have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to active shooter drills in classrooms. But they have done little to move the needle on national gun laws, which remain adamantly opposed by Republicans.
Kris Brown, the president of Brady, the nation’s leading gun violence prevention organization, wrote in a news release that gun violence is an “an all-too American crisis.”
“There is no world where this is acceptable — no world in which our children should be forced to run and hide from shooters in school hallways, no world in which loved ones should have to wait (as parents in Winder are) to learn if their child will return home from school alive,” she wrote.
“Students across the country are returning to classrooms this week, and already another devastating school shooting shows that thoughts, prayers, and platitudes are insufficient,” said Lisa McCormick, a New Jersey activist. “Gun violence demands from elected officials action that will put the safety of our children and communities above gun industry profits and campaign contributions funded by that dirty money.”
Giffords, an organization founded by former congresswoman and shooting survivor Gabrielle Giffords, took to social media to speak out about Wednesday’s shooting.
“Weeks into the school year, and yet another community is torn apart by gun violence,” the organization posted on X. “Americans are fed up with inaction. We demand change.”
The organization also condemned the lack of gun-control laws in the state.
“These are life-saving measures that are proven to prevent gun violence,” Giffords tweeted.
Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, there have been over 417 school shootings, killing at least 209 and injuring 465 students, educators, and other individuals on K-12 campuses. Approximately 59% were targeted shootings and over 12% were unintentional.
The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office held a press conference just after 1 p.m. but few new details were available — no identifying information about the victims or alleged shooter has yet been released.
The sheriff’s office said the first call came in at 9:30 a.m. about an active shooter.
Students are still being reunified with their families.
“First and foremost we wanna lift up our community, give our sympathies to our community, school system, kids, parents, that had to witness this today,” Sheriff Jud Smith said. “Obviously what you see behind us is an evil thing today.”
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