At least four people died on Wednesday, September 4, in a shooting at a high school in Georgia, United States. Nine others were injured while the suspect was arrested.
Four people died and nine were injured after shootings at a high school in the US state of Georgia, in the southeastern United States, local authorities announced on Wednesday. “Nine additional people were sent to various hospitals with injuries. The suspect is in custody and alive,” they said in a social media post.
Numerous emergency vehicles and a large police force were dispatched to the scene at Apalachee High School in the town of Winder, about 70 kilometers northeast of Atlanta.
“We cannot allow this to become the norm,” says Joe Biden
“We cannot allow this to become the norm,” President Joe Biden said in a statement, again calling for a ban on assault rifles. US Attorney General Merrick Garland lamented a “terrible tragedy” during a news conference. According to CNN, the shooter was a 14-year-old teenager.
The school was initially locked down, Fox 5 Atlanta said. The injured were treated at the scene by rescuers, the channel said, based on images taken from a helicopter. Agents from local police, Georgia State Police and federal police are on the scene, authorities said.
The students were then evacuated from the facility, or grouped together on the site of a sports field, according to other aerial images released by the media. “My teacher opened the door (to the classroom) to see what was going on and then she came running and told her to close the door because there was a shooter,” a 17-year-old student told ABC's Sergio Caldera. With the door locked, he and his companions then took refuge at the back of the room, where they heard screams echoing from outside.
White House press release. Karine Jean-Pierre says Pres. Biden and the Vice President. Harris were both briefed on the shooting at the high school in Winder, Georgia.
“This is not normal. Students and teachers deserve to know that their schools are safe.” https://t.co/MVdRvBGFsp pic.twitter.com/tj8k8vze4e
— ABC News (@ABC) September 4, 2024
The United States is the only developed country in the world that is regularly plagued by school shootings, a scourge fostered by the proliferation of individual weapons. In May 2022, 19 children and two teachers were victims of a horrific massacre at their school in Uvalde, Texas, by an 18-year-old using a legally purchased assault rifle.
US President Joe Biden continues to decry the “epidemic” of gun violence and regularly urges Congress to act.
The death toll must now be particularly high or the circumstances particularly significant for shootings to attract national media attention.