At least two high school students and two teachers have been confirmed to have been killed by a 14 years old boy, who went on rampage and shot indiscriminately at students and every object he sees, within the school premises.
According to reports, approximately nine more students were also injured in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder part of Georgia and authorities cannot ascertain number of people that may have sustained injuries.
After the shoot was put under control, eyewitnesses said that it was unclear to give accounts of people whose injuries were from gunshots, as people got hurt while fleeing.
Meanwhile, Barrow Country Sheriff’s Office, who confirmed the incident, in a statement on Wednesday, said that a suspect, who is of student age, had been taken into police custody though the authority was not certain if the boy attended the school.
All schools in the district were placed in lockdown, and police were sent out of an abundance of caution to all district high schools, but there are no reports of secondary incidents or scenes, according to the sources.
Some of the critically injured were removed by helicopter, and have been hospitalized.
ABC News quoted a witness, student Sergio Caldera, as saying he was in chemistry class when he heard gunshots.
Caldera, 17, told ABC his teacher opened the door and another teacher ran in to tell her to shut the door “because there’s an active shooter.”
“while students and teachers took cover in the room, he heard a loud knock on the classroom door followed by repeated demands to open it”
When the knocking stopped, Caldera reported hearing additional gunshots and screams adding his class later evacuated to the school’s football field.
Live aerial TV images showed several ambulances outside of the high school.
CNN said it witnessed a patient being loaded into a medical helicopter that had landed at the school.
As reported by newsmen, multiple law enforcement agencies and emergency services responded to the scene also the FBI and ATF are working with state and local partners to investigate the shooting.
Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed the Apalachee High School shooting during a news conference on Wednesday and said that the Justice Department stands ready to provide resources to the Winder, Georgia, community following the deadly shooting.
“I want to address the tragic shooting that occurred this morning at a high school in Winder, Georgia. We are still gathering information, but the FBI and ATF are on the scene working with state, local, and federal partners,” Garland said.
The White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed by his Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall, about the shooting and the administration will coordinate with federal, state, and local officials as it receives more information.
The U.S. has seen hundreds of shootings inside schools and colleges in the past two decades, with the deadliest resulting in over 30 deaths at Virginia Tech in 2007.
The carnage has sparked pitched debate over the U.S. gun laws and the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, which enshrines the right “to keep and bear arms.”
In a statement, the FBI’s Atlanta office said: “FBI Atlanta is aware of the current situation at Apalachee High
The attorney general said he is “devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy.”
“The Justice Department stands ready to provide any resources or support that the Winder community needs in the days ahead,” he added.
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.
