The terror of guns has once again visited a school in the United States. A 14-year-old boy opened fire on Wednesday in a hallway at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, some 80 kilometres northeast of Atlanta (Georgia), according to authorities. At least four people died and nine others were hospitalised. The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Chris Hosey, identified the alleged perpetrator of the massacre as Colt Gray, a 14-year-old teenager, who turned himself in when the police arrived. The motive for the shooting is unknown. Two of the fatalities are teachers and two others are students at the school.
The investigation is ongoing. Hosey said the sheriff’s office received calls alerting the school to a shooter at around 10:20 a.m. local time (4:20 p.m. in mainland Spain). Law enforcement arrived at the scene “within minutes,” he said. Upon arrival, officers immediately encountered Gray, just minutes after receiving the alerts. The suspect immediately surrendered and was arrested. Gray will be charged with murder and treated as an adult, the GBI director said at a press conference outside the school.
The shooting is the deadliest incident of school violence in Atlanta history. Apalachee is a high school with about 1,900 students in Winder, a town of about 20,000 people. The shooting sparked panic among students, some of whom barricaded themselves in classrooms for protection. They were then gathered outside at the school’s football stadium, where parents gathered to meet them. Barrow County schools will remain closed for the rest of the week, according to Dallas LeDuff, the county’s superintendent.
US President Joe Biden issued a statement of condolences and condemnation of what happened: “Jill [Biden, la primera dama] “We and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short by senseless gun violence, and we are thinking of all the survivors whose lives have been forever changed. What should have been a joyous return to school in Winder, Georgia, has now become another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart. Students across the country are learning to duck and cover instead of learning to read and write. We can no longer accept this as normal,” he said in a message released by the White House. “Ending this epidemic of gun violence is personal to me,” he added, calling for tougher gun laws.
“A senseless tragedy”
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said it was a “senseless tragedy behind so many senseless tragedies.” “It is just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive. It is senseless. We have to stop it, and we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country. It doesn’t have to be this way,” she said at a rally in North Hampton, New Hampshire.
The Apalachee High School shooting is the tenth mass shooting to occur in the first four days of September in the United States, with at least four people dead or injured.
Police cars and ambulances were deployed heavily at the school as students gathered at the school’s football stadium. Erin Clark, 42, the mother of one of the students, received a text from her son Ethan, a senior at the high school, telling her there was a shooter, she told the Associated Press. He left his job at an Amazon warehouse to go to the school. The two texted each other “I love you,” and Clark said she prayed for her son as she drove to the school.
With the main road to the school blocked, Clark parked and ran with other parents, who were directed to the football field. Amid the chaos, the mother found her son sitting on the bleachers. She said Ethan was writing an essay in class when he heard the first shots and that he and his classmates then barricaded the door and hid. “I’m so proud of him for doing that,” she said. “He was very brave.”
Jacob King, a sophomore football player, also told AP that he had fallen asleep in his World History class after a morning practice when he heard about 10 gunshots. King said he didn’t believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yell for someone to put down their gun. He said that when they left his class, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be a wounded student.
Students are evacuated following Wednesday’s shooting in Winder, Georgia (USA).AP
“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,” tweeted Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. “We will continue to work with local, state and federal partners as we gather information and continue to respond to this situation, He added in another tweet, without providing details of what happened.
On the same social network, the FBI office in Atlanta said, also without giving much information: “The FBI in Atlanta is aware of the current situation at Apalachee Institute in Barrow County. Our agents are on site coordinating and supporting local law enforcement.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said he was “devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy.” “The Department of Justice stands ready to provide any resources or support the Winder community needs in the days ahead,” he added.
The other most serious incident of these days was the murder of four passengers on the Chicago subway. Authorities allege that the perpetrator, later arrested, shot the four people at point-blank range while they were sleeping in the train cars early on Monday, for no apparent reason.
