Georgia High School Shooting: What We Know About The Suspected Teenage Gunman
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A suspected gunman who was taken into custody after allegedly opening fire at a Georgia high school on Wednesday is believed to be a 14-year-old boy, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Four people were killed and at least nine others were injured in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, an hour outside of Atlanta, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
It is not yet known whether or not the teenager, who has not been named, attended the school.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith confirmed there were “multiple injuries” but declined to provide more information, saying it would take “multiple days” to determine what happened and said the investigation into the shooting is “very, very fluid” and still in the early stages.
”What you see behind us is an evil thing today,” the sheriff said, adding that authorities were working to reunite students with their parents.
The high school was put on lockdown this morning, but has since been “cleared for dismissal” while all other Barrow County Schools are on a “soft lockdown,” the Barrow County School District said.
Students at Apalachee High School were evacuated to the football stadium after the campus was placed on lockdown following an active shooter situation (AP)Few details were immediately available from authorities, who were dispatched shortly before 10:30 a.m. to respond to an “active shooting,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Helicopter video from WSB-TV showed dozens of law enforcement and emergency vehicles surrounding the school in Barrow County, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Sergio Caldera, a 17-year-old senior at the school, told ABC News he was in chemistry class when gunshots rang out.
“My teacher goes and opens the door to see what’s going on,” Caldera said. “Another teacher comes running in and tells her to close the door because there’s an active shooter.”
Caldera said someone banged on their classroom door and shouted “open up” several times. Afterward, he heard more gunfire and screaming.
Emergency services swarm the scene at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, in Georgia, on Wednesday morning during the active shooter situation (WSB-TV Channel 2)A distraught parent posted about the shooting on Facebook, calling it “a parent’s worst nightmare.”
“Kennedy is shaken up but she is ok. To hear my baby crying and saying she is scared, I felt helpless because I could not get to her,” LaTanja Baynes Momon wrote.
“The shooting happened very close to her classroom. So close that she heard the gun shots. We are trying to get her now, but as you can imagine, there are so many people trying to do the same. Keep my baby and Apalachee High School in your prayers.”
One student recounted the moment she had to take shelter as bullets whizzed into her classroom.
“I was crying, I didn’t want to die that way,” Camille Nelms told NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta. “I don’t want to meet the Lord that way.”
Another student, Miguel Eduardo Perichi Orta, told WXIA that he heard banging following a loud boom, “I was shaking, scared.”
“I saw like a huge puddle of blood in the classroom, and that really, it like dropped my stomach,” he said, describing the aftermath of the shooting. “It was heartbreaking to see that.”
Four people are dead and nine were hospitalized after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia Wednesday. Students were evacuated to the football field before being released (AP)Special agents with FBI Atlanta responded to Apalachee High School in order to assist local law enforcement, and posted on Twitter, formerly X, that it is aware of the situation and “agents are on scene coordinating with and supporting local law enforcement.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said his “prayers are with the high school students, staff and families affected by the senseless act of violence.”
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the tragedy during a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon, calling the shooting “senseless” and said “it doesn’t have to be this way.”
“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,” Harris told the crowd of supporters.
“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.”
In a statement from President Joe Biden and Jill Biden, the president said that the US could not “continue to accept this as normal.”
“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,” the statement read.
White House says ‘enough is enough’ after Georgia school shooting“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.
“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.”
Democratic vice presindential nominee Tim Walz also acknowldged the “tragic” incident ahead of a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
Apalachee High School has about 1,900 students, according to records from Georgia education officials. It became Barrow County’s second largest public high school when it opened in 2000, according to the Barrow County School System. It’s named after the Apalachee River on the southern edge of Barrow County.
This is developing story. Check back for updates.
