Two students and two teachers killed in Georgia school shooting - as 14-year-old suspect Colt Gray held by police
Dozens of police swarmed the campus after the alarm was raised at around 9.30am local time, and students rushed for shelter in the football stadium. A 14-year-old student at the school is in custody.
Thursday 5 September 2024 03:47, UK
A 14-year-old boy is in custody after allegedly shooting dead two students and two teachers at his high school in the US.
Police named the suspect, despite him being a minor, as Colt Gray.
A gunman opened fire at Apalachee High School, situated in Winder in Barrow County - around 50 miles from the city of Atlanta.
Chris Hosey, Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Gray would be tried as an adult.
Officers said they heard about the incident just before 9.30am local time, and responders from "multiple law enforcement agencies" were sent to the high school over "a reported active shooting".
The school was placed on lockdown, but this lifted around an hour later and pupils were released to their families.
Dozens of police swarmed the campus and students rushed for shelter in the football stadium.
Local TV stations showed images of parents lining up in cars on a road outside the school, hoping to be reunited with their children.
The investigation was still "very active," Mr Hosey said, with many interviews and crime scene work yet to be done.
Student Camille Nelms said she was shedding tears when a gunman opened fire on her classroom.
As bullets came flying into her classroom, the teacher and students tried to take shelter in the corner.
"I was crying, I didn't want to die that way," Nelms told NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta. "I don't want to meet the Lord that way."
Student Jacob King said he had dozed off in his world history class after morning football practice when he heard about 10 gunshots.
He said he did not believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yelling at someone to put down their gun. He said when his class was led out, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be an injured student.
Ashley Enoh was at home on Wednesday morning when she got a text from her brother, who is a senior at the school.
The message said: "Just so you know, I love you."
When she asked in the family group chat what was going on, he said there was a gunman at the school.
The Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith, who described the incident as "pure evil", told reporters: "My heart hurts for these kids, my heart hurts for this community, but I want to make it clear hate will not prevail in this county. Love will prevail."
Sheriff Smith said a motive was unclear and he didn't know whether the victims were targeted or whether there was a connection between the gunman and the victims.
"I don't know why it happened and we may never know," he said.
The resource officer at Apalachee High School engaged with the gunman, Sheriff Smith said, adding the attacker "quickly realised that if he did not give up, it would end with an OIS - an Officer Involved Shooting. He gave up, got on the ground and the deputy took him into custody."
He thanked the other agencies that attended the shooting because "they prevented a much more tragic event from occurring".
US President Joe Biden said he and his wife, Jill "are mourning the deaths", and said: "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."
Mr Biden urged Republicans to work with Democrats to pass "common-sense gun safety legislation".
As the incident unfolded, Governor Brian Kemp said: "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."
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Federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and ATF, attended the scene.
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Apalachee High School, which had almost 1,900 students last year, began term on 1 August.