Shooting at Apalachee High School: At least 4 dead, 9 in hospital

One person is in custody after multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday that left four people dead and nine others hospitalized.

Two of those killed in the shooting were students. The other two were teachers.

Georgia state authorities identified the two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. The two adults killed were 39-year-old Richard Aspinwall and 53-year-old Christina Irimie.

The suspect, identified as Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student, was arrested and charged with murder.

Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, told reporters the suspect turned himself in to a school security officer.

Sources told CNN on Wednesday morning that about 30 people were injured in the day's violence, including some who were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Investigators said there is no obvious connection between the shooter and the victims, but the case is still in its early stages and more information may emerge. It is not yet clear how the shooter might have obtained the gun or brought it onto school property.

The FBI office in Atlanta announced later Wednesday that the Jackson County Sheriff's Office questioned the suspect and his father last year after the FBI received several anonymous tips about online threats to carry out a school shooting.

“The father stated he had hunting weapons in the home, but the individual did not have unsupervised access to them,” the FBI said in a statement. “The individual denied making the threats online. Jackson County alerted local schools to continue monitoring the individual. At this time, there was no probable cause for an arrest or for additional law enforcement at the local, state or federal level.”

Authorities said eight students and one teacher were among the nine injured.

Neither Hosey nor Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith were willing to comment on the extent of the injuries at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Video from an Atlanta News First helicopter showed at least one person being airlifted from the scene of the accident at Apalachee High as several ambulances were nearby. Officials told the news agency that the airlifted person was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, a Level 1 trauma center in Atlanta.

Ciera Roberts, a spokeswoman for Barrow County Schools, told HuffPost that all schools in the district were placed into a soft lockdown once Apalachee was locked down. The school has about 1,900 students.

All schools in Barrow County will remain closed for the rest of the week, but grief counselors will be available “this week and every day thereafter,” Superintendent Dallas LeDuff told reporters.

Smith struggled to maintain his composure at times during the afternoon press conference, telling reporters that as a lifelong resident of Barrow County, he could never have foreseen “the pure evil that happened today.”

“This hits me hard. I was born and raised here. I went to school in this school system. My children go to this school system,” he said. “I'm proud of this school system. My heart hurts for these children. My heart hurts for our community. I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this country.”

“Love will triumph over what happened today,” he said. “I assure you of that.”

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a separate press conference that the Justice Department will provide whatever resources local and state law enforcement partners need.

“I am devastated for the families affected by this terrible tragedy,” he said.

Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp said he had allocated “all available state resources” to the school and was “praying for the safety of the people in our classrooms.”

“We will continue to work with local, state and federal partners as we gather information and continue to respond to this situation,” Kemp said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke about the shooting at the start of a news conference Wednesday afternoon, urging Congress to recognize that “this is not normal” and demanding measures such as universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, mandating safe storage of firearms, investing in violence prevention programs and passing a national red flag law.

“Students across the country are learning to duck and hide instead of learning to read and write,” President Joe Biden said in a written statement. “We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, expressed this opinion at a rally in New Hampshire.

“Our kids are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential, and part of their big, beautiful brain is worried about a shooter breaking through the classroom door,” Harris said. “It doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be that way.”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump described the shooting on social media as a “tragic event.”

“Our deepest condolences go out to the victims and families of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, Georgia,” he wrote, calling the shooter a “sick and deranged monster.”

The suspect is charged as if he were an adult – an approach in juvenile justice that has been criticized.

Lydia O'Connor and Marita Vlachou contributed reporting.