Georgia High School Mass shooting

Post Reply New Topic

At least four people are believed to have been killed and approximately 30 more injured in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, according to law enforcement sources in the state.

It’s unclear how many of the injuries are from gunshot wounds. The information is preliminary and is subject to change.

A suspect is in custody who is of student age, but it’s unclear whether they attend the school, according to the sources.

Some of the critically injured were removed by helicopter, and additional helicopters are on standby.

Special agents from the FBI have responded to assist local law enforcement, a bureau spokesperson said.

Apalachee High School belongs to the Barrow County School System, which told CNN students have been cleared to leave and parents have been notified to pick them up. Transportation will be provided to students who need it, the district said.

Winder had a population of about 18,338 as of the 2020 census, according to the US Census Bureau. The Barrow County School System is the 24th largest school district in the state, per the district’s website. It serves about 15,340 students, 1,932 of whom are enrolled at Apalachee High School.

4 people killed and 9 injured in high school shooting, Georgia Bureau of Investigation says
From CNN's Elise Hammond
Nine people were hospitalized with injuries after a shooting at Apalachee High School on Wednesday, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The agency also confirmed in a post on X that four people were killed and that one person is in custody. It added that “reports that the suspect has been ‘neutralized’ are inaccurate.”

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith previously said there were ”multiple injuries.”

Other law enforcement sources told CNN there could be up to 30 people who were injured, although it’s unclear how many of the injuries are from gunshot wounds.

Biden says we "cannot continue to accept this as normal" after Georgia high school shooting
President Joe Biden is “mourning the deaths” of those who were killed in Wednesday’s school shooting at Apalachee High School and said that “we cannot continue to accept this as normal.”

“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,” the president said in a statement.

iden also used his statement to call on Congress to act and pass an assault weapons ban, as he has in the past.

“After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘enough is enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation,” the president added.

Shooter believed to be 14 years old, law enforcement source says
The shooter who opened fire inside Apalachee High school is believed to be a 14-year-old boy, a law enforcement source tells CNN.

The source said it is not yet known whether the teen attended that school.

"You can hear gunshots from afar": Students describe shooting at Apalachee High School
ome students who were in the building during the shooting at Apalachee High School on Wednesday described their experience to CNN.

“When this happened, I entered the class and then we were there for like, second period. So it was like during the middle of it, and I heard screaming and everything,” Janice Martinez said.
Martinez initially thought it was someone “playing around in the hallways or something. I thought it was like someone just yelling or something. So I didn’t think much of it.”
But then she noticed that “the noise kept getting louder and louder, and I was like, ‘No, no, guys.’ Like, I told everybody to get down. Get down, because, like, you don’t joke around with that.”

Martinez added that when she got to a corner she witnessed some girls crying and that the teacher was shaking. “I was like, ‘No, it’s gonna be OK. ‘Because if you tell yourself, it’s gonna be OK, it’s gonna be OK.”

Eventually, she said that authorities came and took them out of the classroom and onto the field.

Another student, Alexandra Romero, said she could hear “the gunshots from afar.” As they got louder, the school announced it was on lockdown and she and her classmates remained in their room for about 10 minutes until they were evacuated by authorities.

Julie Sandoval said she heard five gunshots right next to her — a series of loud bangs, like heavy books falling several times in a row. She and some of her other classmates hid in the corner until police came into the room.

“I started shaking a lot and that’s when I started crying as well. I was trying to text a lot of my friends but unfortunately, everything was down,” Sandoval told CNN.

She said she was worried about her sister who also is a student at the school. Sandoval texted her parents to tell them she loved them.

Apalachee High School received a phone call this morning that warned about shootings, officials say
The high school at the center of today’s mass shooting in Georgia received an earlier phone threat, multiple law enforcement officials tell CNN.

Law enforcement officials in Georgia say Apalachee High School received a phone call this morning warning that there would be shootings at five schools and that Apalachee would be the first.

It is not known who placed the call. Officials tell CNN they are investigating the call and where it originated.

Harris: It's "just outrageous" parents have to worry if their child will come home from school alive
Vice President Kamala Harris called the shooting that killed four people at a Georgia high school a “senseless tragedy.”

Speaking at a rally in New Hampshire on Wednesday, the Democratic presidential nominee said her heart is with the students and teachers of the school. She called for action to curb gun violence.

“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 said.

“We’ve got to stop it,” she said, adding that “it doesn’t have to be this way.”

She talked about how she traveled around to trade schools and colleges last year, meeting young Americans. She said she asked groups of students if they had to go through an active shooter drill while they were in school.

“Every time the auditorium was packed, and almost every hand went up,” she said.

Harris said that kids in school should not have to use up energy “being concerned about a shooter busting through the door of the classroom.”

“It does not have to be this way,” she reiterated.

The US has endured an average of 1.5 mass shootings every day so far this year, data shows
The US has suffered at least 385 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as those in which four or more victims are shot.

That’s an average of more than 1.5 mass shootings every day so far this year.

And let me guess.... an AR-15

HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIMS:
Mason Schermerhorn, 14:
Schermerhorn, who is autistic, was one of four people killed, his mother confirmed to Channel 2 Action News. Family members had circulated the 14-year-old’s photo on social media after they couldn’t reach him after the shooting.

“If he is escalated, PLEASE use a calm voice with him,” family members wrote on social media. “Let him know his mom is looking for him for reassurance.”

David Phenix:
Phenix was one of nine people who suffered from gunshot wounds. The teacher and coach suffered gunshot wounds to the foot and hip, which shattered his hip bone. Family members said he was rushed into surgery but is stable.

“We will update as we hear new information. We are so, so lucky, but please keep our family as well as the AHS family in your prayers,” his daughter wrote on Facebook.

Colt Gray, the alleged gunman who opened fire at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, killed four people and injured at least nine Wednesday morning when he began shooting at innocent victims inside the school, police say.

At approximately 10:20 a.m., around two hours after classes at Apalachee had begun, the Barrow County Sheriff's Office responded to reports of an active shooter.

"Within minutes, law enforcement was on scene as well as two school resource officers assigned here to the school," Barrow County Sheriff Judd Smith told reporters during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Gray, a 14-year-old student at Apalachee High School, will be charged with murder and prosecuted as an adult, according to Smith.

“If he is escalated, PLEASE use a calm voice with him,” family members wrote on social media. “Let him know his mom is looking for him for reassurance.”

We need a total ban on guns. The 2nd Amendment must be repealed!

It’s horrifying. It’s also horrifying that people consistently demonstrate that they care more about guns than kids. I don’t understand.

so what's his motive?
Why is he being tried as an adult when he's 14??
How come when 17 year old Rittenhouse murdered two people his defence was he was < 18yrs old?