Georgia: Georgia police officers responded to a shooting at a high school on Wednesday, and there were reports that at least four people had died. In addition to the four dead, a dozen people were injured in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, MSNBC reported, citing unnamed police officials briefed on the incident. One suspect was in custody, the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“I have directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School and urge all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement.
Situation under control
The incident appeared to be under control and the students were released by midday, a Barrow County schools spokesman said. ABC News cited one witness, student Sergio Caldera, who said he was in chemistry class when he heard gunshots. Caldera, 17, told ABC that his teacher opened the door and another teacher ran in to tell him to close the door “because there’s an active shooter.”
As students and teachers gathered in the classroom, someone banged on the door to his classroom and shouted several times for it to be opened. When the banging stopped, Caldera heard more gunshots and screams. He said his class was later evacuated to the school’s football field.
Live aerial television footage showed several ambulances outside the high school. CNN said it witnessed a patient being loaded onto a medical helicopter that had landed at the school. “At approximately 10:23 a.m., officers from multiple law enforcement agencies and fire and EMS personnel were dispatched to the high school in reference to a reported active shooting,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Biden had been briefed on the shooting.
The FBI’s Atlanta office sent agents to the high school to support local police, said Jenna Sellitto, a spokeswoman for the office.
Over the past two decades, the United States has seen hundreds of school and college shootings, with the deadliest resulting in more than 30 deaths at Virginia Tech in 2007. The massacre has sparked an intense debate over U.S. gun laws and the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which enshrines the right “to keep and bear arms.”
The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting “and his administration will continue to coordinate with federal, state and local officials as we receive more information.”
(With contributions from the agency)
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