US: 4 dead, several injured in Georgia school shooting; accused 14-year-old boy will be tried as adult

Police in the US state of Georgia responded to a shooting on Wednesday at Apalachee High School, located in the town of Winder, Barrow County, some 70 kilometers (43 miles) northeast of Atlanta.

Four people — two students and two teachers — were killed and eight students and a teacher were injured in the shooting, according to law enforcement officials. Authorities said they expected those wounded to recover well.

One suspect was in custody, the Barrow County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. Authorities said the suspect is a 14-year-old male student at Apalachee High School, surrendered to police and will be tried as an adult. 

The motive behind the shooting is still unclear. Authorities were still investigating how the suspect obtained the gun used in the shooting and brought it into the school.

What do we know about the school shooting?

Police and ambulances rushed to the high school, with students evacuated from the scene.

Apalachee High School sent a message to parents saying the school was "in a hard lockdown" due to reports of gunfire, adding that law enforcement was at the scene.

Students were released by noon, local time, and the school would remain shut for the remained of the week while an investigation takes place. 

Authorities were still looking into how the suspect obtained the AR platform weapon used in the shooting and how he got it into the school. 

The FBI's Atlanta office said the suspect in Wednesday's shooting and his father had been interviewed as part of an investigation in May 2023 regarding online threats to commit a school shooting. The threats did not detail a location or time.  "At that time, there was no probably cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state or federal levels," the FBI said in a statement.

How have politicians responded?

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said in a statement, "This is a day every parent dreads, and Georgians everywhere will hug their children tighter this evening because of this painful event."

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting, the White House confirmed.

"Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed," Biden said in a statement, calling on Republicans to work with Democrats to pass "common-sense gun safety legislation."

US Attorney General Merrick Garland described a school shooting in the state as a "terrible tragedy." 

"I'm devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy," the top US Justice Department official told reporters.

Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire after the shooting, Vice President Kamala Harris said it was time to end the "epidemic of gun violence."

Meanwhile, Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said the perpetrator of the shooting was a "sick and deranged monster."

Mass shootings in the US

The US has seen hundreds of school and college shootings over the past two decades, the deadliest of which left more than 30 people dead at Virginia Tech in 2007.

The carnage has sparked a fierce debate over US gun laws and the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to "keep and bear arms," and led to a generation of children growing accustomed to active shooter drills in their classrooms. 

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 384 mass shootings in the United States this year. A mass shooting is defined as a shooting with at least four victims.