A 14-year-old student opened fire at his Georgia high school at 9:30 this morning, killing two students and two teachers and injuring at least nine other people before surrendering to school resource officers. The suspect is in custody and is expected to be charged as an adult with murder, The New York Times reports.
Apalachee River, High Shoals (Courtney McGough/Flickr Creative Commons)Students at Apalachee High School in Winder, as at most high schools in the US, were accustomed to active shooter drills, leading some students in the school to think the lockdown warning was just another test. But reality set in very quickly as students heard running and screaming in the halls.
Addressing the media, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith called the shooting “pure evil,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community,” the paper quoted him as saying. “But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. I want that to be very clearly known. Love will prevail over what happened today. I assure you of that.”
Winder is in Barrow County, in the exurbs of Atlanta. School officials have cancelled classes for the remainder of the week at all public schools in Barrow County. The school will offer crisis counselors at the central office during both days from 8 am to 4 pm. Apalachee High School, one of three high schools in Barrow County, serves about 1,900 students.
