Two students and two teachers were killed at a Georgia high school on Wednesday in a mass shooting authorities 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.
“What is more important for me to mention here to you is my heartfelt sympathy to the parents, the students that were here,” he said.
He did not disclose what kind of firearm was used, or how it was obtained.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation 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.
The Barrow county sheriff, Jud Smith, became emotional as he spoke to reporters late on Wednesday afternoon.
“This hits home for me. I was born and raised here. I went to school in this school system, my kids go to this school system. I’m proud of this school system,” he said, holding back tears.
“My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community. But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county … Love will prevail over what happened today, I assure you of that.”
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”.
Harris added: “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Students at the school spoke of their terror at hearing gunshots and the sound of screaming outside their classrooms. It was the 385th mass shooting in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Other reports said five high schools in the region, including Apalachee, had received phone calls on Wednesday morning threatening that a shooting would take place.
Video on local TV stations showed students gathered on the school’s football field, and at least two people airlifted to local hospitals by helicopter.
A spokesperson for the Grady Health System in Atlanta said it received one gunshot victim. An official at Piedmont Athens regional hospital, speaking under condition of anonymity, said one adult was in surgery with a gunshot wound to the stomach, and a minor was being treated for unspecified injuries.
Biden, in a statement, said the shooting was “another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart”, and called on Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats and pass “commonsense gun safety legislation” including a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and universal background checks for gun buyers.
“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.
Students caught up in the shooting described hearing gunshots and screaming. Senior Sergio Caldera, 17, told ABC News he was in chemistry class when he heard shooting.
“My teacher goes and opens the door to see what’s going on. Another teacher comes running in and tells her to close the door because there’s an active shooter,” Caldera said.
He said the teacher locked the door and the students ran to the back of the room and huddled together. Someone pounded on his classroom door and shouted “open up!” multiple times, he said, followed by gunshots and screams after the knocking stopped.
Lyela Sayarath, another student, told CNN how the shooter was unable to gain access to a classroom, and she listened as he turned and fired on students in a hallway.
“They didn’t let him in and you could hear the gunshots,” she said. “He never really talked; he was pretty quiet.”
Speaking of his previous school attendance, she added: “He wasn’t there most times, he either wouldn’t come to school or would skip class.”
Ashley Enoh said she was at home she received a text message from her brother, a senior at Apalachee, a school with about 1,900 students.
“Just so you know, I love you,” the text read.
Students were evacuated to the school’s football field, and later allowed to reunite with their families.
Merrick Garland, the attorney general, said FBI and ATF agents were on the scene, and the justice department “stands ready” to provide the GBI and local authorities any assistance they needed.
“I’m devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy,” he said at a press conference at the justice department addressing alleged Russian interference in US elections.
The mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens, issued a statement on X. “My prayers are with the high school students, staff, and families affected by the act of violence in Winder, Georgia,” he wrote.
“APD [Atlanta police department] has also been on standby in case other law enforcement agencies need assistance with this incident. May God comfort the victims and their loved ones in the difficult days ahead.”
The FBI field office in Atlanta dispatched agents to the high school to support local law enforcement, said Jenna Sellitto, a spokesperson for the office.
People in Winder, a city of 18,000 some 50 miles (80km) north-east of Atlanta, gathered in a park for a prayer vigil later on Wednesday night.
Some leaned on each other or bowed their heads in prayer, while others lit candles to honor the dead.
“We are all hurting. Because when something affects one of us it affects us all,” said Power Evans, a city councilmember who addressed the gathering. “I know that here tonight, all of are going to come together. We’re going to love on one another ... We’re all family. We’re all neighbors.”
The US has seen hundreds of shootings inside schools and colleges in the past two decades.
The Gun Violence Archive reported there had been 384 mass shootings in the US this year before Wednesday’s incident in Georgia, and more than 11,500 killed by gunshots, excluding suicide. The group considers a mass shooting to be one in which four or more victims are killed or shot, not including the shooter.
Kris Brown, president of the gun control advocacy group Brady, said: “Students across the country are returning to classrooms this week, and already we are witnessing yet another devastating school shooting. There is no world in which this is acceptable, no world in which our children should be forced to run and hide from shooters in school hallways, no world in which loved ones should have to wait (as parents in Winder are) to learn if their child will return home from school alive.”
“Thoughts, prayers, and platitudes will never be enough. Gun violence is an all-too American crisis that demands action.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting
• This article was amended on 4 September 2024. The number of mass shootings recorded by the Gun Violence Archive is defined as those in which four or more people are either injured or killed; in an earlier version we said the definition was four or more killed.
