NEW YORK/Xinhua
Four people were killed and nine others injured in a shooting at a school in the US state of Georgia today, local authorities said.
The four dead were two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, about 70 kilometers north of Atlanta, Georgia’s largest city.
The shooter was identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, a high school student, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference this afternoon.
Gray opened fire at the school shortly before 10:30 a.m. local time. He turned himself in to police as soon as he was confronted by a school resource officer, Hosey said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies and emergency services were dispatched to the school following the shooting. The shooter will be charged with murder and will be tried as an adult, Hosey said.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said they are not aware of any connection between the suspected shooter and the victims.
Hosey said part of the investigation is looking at all aspects of the shooter and his connection to the school. Nine people injured in the shooting were taken to hospitals, Hosey said.
In addition to the patients with gunshot wounds, five people were hospitalized with symptoms of panic attacks, a hospital spokesman said. The school was placed under heavy lockdown after the shooting.
Barrow County schools will remain closed for the rest of the week, county Superintendent Dallas LeDuff said. The deadly shooting prompted officers to step up patrols around campuses in Atlanta.
US President Joe Biden said today that he mourns the deaths of those whose lives were cut short by “senseless gun violence.”
“What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart,” he added.
The president called on lawmakers to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, establish universal background checks and end immunity for gun manufacturers.
There have been 380 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2024, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more victims are shot or killed.
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