The US has suffered 385 shootings so far this year
The shooter is a 14-year-old who will be tried as an adult for murder
Authorities in the state of Georgia reported on Wednesday the death of at least four people, as well as nine injured, as a result of a shooting at the Apalachee High School, located in the city of Winder.
The suspect, 14 years old, has been arrested alive by the police. The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Chris Hosey, has reported that the victims are two students and two teachers. “Nine people have been transferred to local hospitals with various injuries,” he said.
Hosey has indicated that he responds to the name of Colt Gray and has no apparent connection to the victims, although his relationship with the school has yet to be determined, as initially police sources indicated that he would be a student.
“He surrendered immediately after a school security officer confronted him. He quickly realized that if he didn’t give up, he would end up in a shootout with an officer. He gave up, threw himself to the ground and was arrested (…) He will be charged with murder and tried as an adult,” he confirmed.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith has expressed his deep concern about what happened. “I studied in this school system, my children did too. My heart aches for these children, for our community,” he said, emphasizing that “hate will not prevail in this county.”
Police sources previously told CNN that on Wednesday the institute received a phone call threatening that there would be several shootings in up to five schools and that Apalachee would be the first.
So far this year, the United States has suffered 385 major shootings – those in which at least four victims are shot – according to the Gun Violence Archive, an organization that catalogs incidents of gun violence across the country.
BIDEN AND HARRIS REACT
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, and the vice president and Democratic candidate for the White House, Kamala Harris, have expressed their dismay at what happened and have agreed to point out that it is a “senseless tragedy.”
“Gun violence continues to tear our communities apart. We cannot continue to accept this as normal,” Biden said in a statement in which he reproached the Republicans for their inaction to reach a bipartisan agreement on gun control.
“After decades of inaction, Republicans must finally say ‘enough’ and work with Democrats to pass a common-sense law on security. We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, enact background checks and end immunity for gun manufacturers,” she stressed.
For her part, Harris, from a rally in New Hampshire, said that it is “outrageous” that “every day” in the United States “parents have to send their children to school worried about whether they will return home alive or not.”
Former president and Republican candidate for the November presidential election, Donald Trump, has also reacted, calling the shooter a “sick and deranged monster.” “Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
