Law enforcement officers and first responders respond to Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., on Wednesday, after a shooting was reported.
Christian Monterrosa/AFP via Getty Images
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Christian Monterrosa/AFP via Getty Images
Police agencies rushed to Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Ga., on Wednesday after a shooting was reported. A suspect is in custody, officials say.
Four people are dead, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and another nine people were taken to hospitals with injuries.
“Suspect in custody and alive,” the agency added, in a post on X.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith spoke with reporters outside the school Wednesday afternoon. “Obviously what you see behind us is an evil thing today,” Smith said. “At about 9:30 this morning, we received the first call that there was an active shooter” on the campus, he added.
“We’re not releasing any information as far as injuries, but we have multiple injuries,” Smith said, calling the process so far “a very, very fluid investigation.”
Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta told NPR that it “received one gunshot wound victim from Apalachee High School in Barrow County.”
Images from the scene showed police officers leading students away from the school and to the nearby football field.
“We’re in the process of reunifying our students with their parents,” Smith said. “Obviously, that’s chaotic.”
The sheriff said authorities will provide an update at 4 p.m. local time. But he also predicted, “This is gonna take multiple days for us to get answers as to what happened and why this happened.”
“You think it’s not going to happen to us, and then it it does”
Tina Ronghi, a grandmother of students who attend Apalachee High, told Georgia Public Broadcasting: “I mean, it’s devastating when you hear it happen to anybody, but then you think it’s not going to happen to us, and then it it does.”
President Biden has been briefed on the shooting, saying in a statement that it was “another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart.”
During Wednesday’s midday briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden and his administration “will continue coordinating with federal state and local officials.”
The FBI says its agents have been on the scene to help. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation stated on X that its agents are also “on site assisting local, state, & federal law enforcement” officers who are investigating the violence.
“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,” Gov. Brian Kemp said on X.
“We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners as we gather information and further respond to this situation,” the governor added.
Apalachee High School started its academic year on Aug. 1, according to its online calendar. The school’s campus sits on the outskirts of Winder, Ga., near a rural highway that runs between Athens and Atlanta. This is the school’s 25th year, according to a recent message to parents.
The White House calls on Congress “to do something,” Jean-Pierre said, after extending condolences to those affected by the shooting.
“We need universal background checks,” she said. “We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, invest in prevention programs and pass a national red flag law.”
