At least four people were killed and nine others were taken to hospitals with injuries after a shooter opened fire at a high school outside of Atlanta, Georgia, officials said Wednesday.
A suspect was in custody, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Calls of an active shooter at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., came in at about 9:30 a.m., according to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.
“What you see behind us is an evil thing,” Smith said at an afternoon press conference in front of the school. “This is a very, very fluid investigation,” he added.
Footage from the scene showed many students and faculty gathered on the school’s football field and a large presence of emergency responders on campus.
At least four people were killed and nine others were taken to hospitals with injuries after a shooter opened fire at a high school outside of Atlanta, officials said Wednesday.
A suspect was in custody, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Calls of an active shooter at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., came in at about 9:30 a.m., according to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.
“What you see behind us is an evil thing,” Smith said at an afternoon press conference in front of the school. “This is a very, very fluid investigation,” he added.
Footage from the scene showed many students and faculty gathered on the school’s football field and a large presence of emergency responders on campus.
Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta said it received one gunshot wound victim from the school.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Atlanta division were on the scene coordinating with local law enforcement.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at the school.
Apalachee High School has about 1,900 students.
The city of Winder, located about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, had a population of 18,338 as of the 2020 census.
President President Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were in mourning over the deaths.
“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,” he said in a statement.
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the school shooting at a campaign event in Portsmouth, N.H., calling on Americans to “end this epidemic of gun violence” once and for all.
“It’s just outrageous that every day in our country, 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,” the Democratic presidential nominee said.
As of Aug. 26, there have been at least 133 gunfire incidents on school grounds this year that resulted in 38 deaths, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control group. Last year, there were 158 incidents and 45 deaths, the group said.
Firearms have been the leading cause of death for children and teenagers since 2020, prompting U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy to declare gun violence a public-health crisis for the first time in June.
