Law enforcement authorities on Wednesday, said at least four people died and nine were wounded in a high school shooting in the US State of Georgia. This is even as a suspect was taken into custody, AFP reports.
According to the report, the tally of American’s gun violence is almost 400 mass shooting in 2024 alone.
AFP reports that people gathered at a sports field outside Apalachee High School, some forming a circle with their arms linked, after the shooting.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said four people had been killed. There was no immediate word on a motive.
“An additional nine taken to various hospitals with injuries. Suspect in custody and alive. Reports that the suspect has been ‘neutralized’ are inaccurate,” the bureau said in a social media post.
Earlier, school authorities were reported to have sent a message to parents saying they were enforcing a “hard lockdown after reports of gunfire.”
“After the all-clear was given, parents were invited to the school to be reunited with their children. With long lines of vehicles visible outside.
“A student told local media that he saw blood on the floor and a body as he was led out of the building by authorities, AFP stated.
“I heard gunshots go off… I thought it was fake until I heard more gunshots and screaming,” said the male student, whose name was not given by the Fox 5 News channel.
On Wednesday morning, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper quoted 11th grade student Henry van der Walt as texting his mother that he thought “there’s a school shooting.”
Minutes later, he texted: “I love you.”
Local television footage showed ambulances driving across a school field about two hours after the attack was first reported. It also showed scores of vehicles parked around the school.
“The shooting occurred near the town of Winder, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, the state capital, AFP said.
Reacting to the shooting, the US President Joe Biden said he was mourning the dead.
“Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal,” the President said. Referring to the frequency of such attacks across the country.
Recall that school shootings have become a sadly regular occurrence in the United States. About a third of adults own a firearm and regulations on purchasing even powerful military-style rifles are lax.
Polls show a majority of voters favor stricter controls on the use and purchase of firearms. But the powerful gun ownership lobby is opposed to additional restrictions and lawmakers have repeatedly failed to act, APF wrote.
Reactions have, however, trailed the shooting by the two presidential candidates in the US election. Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire after the shooting, the Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris condemned it. She said it was time to end the “epidemic of gun violence.”
Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said the perpetrator of the shooting was a “sick and deranged monster.”
This year, there have been at least 384 mass shootings — defined as a shooting involving at least four victims, dead or wounded — across the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
“At least 11,557 people have been killed in firearms violence this year,” according to the GVA.
source: AFP
