US Shooting Spree: Four Killed in Georgia High School

By Staff, Agencies

Two students and two teachers were killed at a Georgia high school on Wednesday in a mass shooting authority say was committed by a 14-year-old male student at the school.

At least nine others were taken to the hospital following the incident at Apalachee high school in Winder, about 50 miles north-east of Atlanta.

Officials said at an afternoon press conference that the suspect was alive and in custody, and surrendered quickly as officers, including two school resources officers, entered the campus and confronted him.

Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia bureau of investigation, took the unusual step of naming the minor, Colt Gray, as the suspect. He said the suspect would be charged as an adult with four counts of murder.

He did not disclose what kind of firearm was used, or how it was obtained.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] later issued a statement revealing that it had investigated online threats to commit a school shooting in 2023 and local law enforcement interviewed a 13-year-old subject and his father in nearby Jackson county. The statement did not identify the teen, but Georgia officials said the statement was in connection to the subject in custody.

“The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them. The subject denied making the threats online. Jackson County alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject,” the FBI said, adding that there was no probable cause to make an arrest.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris separately condemned the killings.

The US president called on Congress to pass tighter new gun laws, in a statement issued by the White House, and the US vice-president and Democratic party nominee for president in the November election, called it a “senseless tragedy” and called for “an end to this epidemic of gun violence”.

“These measures will not bring those who were tragically killed today back, but it will help prevent more tragic gun violence from ripping more families apart,” the president said.

The FBI field office in Atlanta dispatched agents to the high school to support local law enforcement, said Jenna Sellitto, a spokeswoman for the office.

Kris Brown, president of the gun control advocacy group Brady, said: “Thoughts, prayers, and platitudes will never be enough. Gun violence is an all-too American crisis that demands action.”