Georgia High School Shooting! At least 4 killed, 9 injured in Apalachee High School shooting!

WINDER, Ga. —

At least four people have been killed and at least nine have been taken to hospitals with injuries after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

A suspect has been taken into custody and is alive, GBI said in a statement posted on X.

“Reports that the suspect has been ‘neutralized’ are inaccurate,” the post said.

Neither the victims, nor the suspect have been identified.

Update: Four dead. An additional nine taken to various hospitals with injuries. Suspect in custody and alive. Reports that the suspect has been ‘neutralized’ are inaccurate.

— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) September 4, 2024

What we know:

• At least four people have been killed and at least nine have been taken to hospitals with injuries after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
• A suspect is in custody and is alive. No information regarding the suspect or their motive has been released.
• First responders received calls about an active shooter at the high school starting at about 9:30 a.m. ET. source

4 dead in shooting at Georgia high school, 14-year-old suspect in custody: Officials

WINDER, Ga. (AP) — A shooter at a Georgia high school killed four people on Wednesday, authorities said, sending students scrambling for shelter in their classrooms — and eventually to the football stadium — as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe.

At least nine people were injured and a suspect was in custody, authorities said. It was not immediately clear if the shooter was a student at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta.

“What you see behind us is an evil thing,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said at a brief news conference outside the school. He declined to give details about the suspect. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said four people were dead and at least nine injured.

The school shooting was just the latest among dozens across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings 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.

Jacob King, a sophomore football player, said he had dozed off in his world history class after a morning practice when he heard about 10 gunshots.

Four people were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday morning, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Another nine victims were taken to hospitals with injuries, the GBI said.

The suspect is alive and in custody, the GBI said. The suspect is a 14-year-old student at Apalachee High School, multiple law enforcement sources told our News.

Senior Sergio Caldera, 17, said he was in chemistry class when he heard gunshots.

“My teacher goes and opens the door to see what’s going on. Another teacher comes running in and tells her to close the door because there’s an active shooter,” Caldera told ABC News.

He said his teacher locked the door and the students ran to the back of the room. Caldera said they heard screams from outside as they “huddled up.”

At some point, Caldera said someone pounded on his classroom door and shouted “open up!” multiple times. When the knocking stopped, Caldera said he heard more gunshots and screams.

He said his class later evacuated to the football field.

Kyson Stancion said he was in class when he heard gunshots and “heard police scream, telling somebody, ‘There’s a shooting going on, get down, get back in the classroom.'”

“I was scared because I’ve never been in a school shooting,” he told ABC News.

“Everybody was crying. My teacher tried to keep everybody safe,” he added.

Apalachee High School was “cleared for dismissal” and all other Barrow County Schools were placed on a “soft lockdown,” the Barrow County School District said.

“The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office says this is for the safety of everyone right now. Please do not visit your child’s school at this time. We cannot release students during a lockdown,” the school district said in a statement.

Winder is about 45 miles outside of Atlanta.

The president highlighted his work to combat gun violence, including signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law and launching the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. But he stressed that more must be done.

“After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘enough is enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation,” Biden said. “We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers. These measures will not bring those who were tragically killed today back, but it will help prevent more tragic gun violence from ripping more families apart.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he is “heartbroken.”

“This is a day every parent dreads, and Georgians everywhere will hug their children tighter this evening because of this painful event,” he said in a statement. “We continue to work closely with local, state, and federal partners to make any and all resources available to help this community on this incredibly difficult day and in the days to come.”

In Atlanta, authorities will “bolster patrols” around schools on Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement.

“My prayers are with the high school students, staff and families affected by the senseless act of violence,” Dickens said. source