Four people were killed in a high school shooting in Georgia this morning. At least 9 were injured.
ARI SHAPIRO: Four people are dead and at least nine injured after a school shooting this morning in Winder, Ga. That’s a city about 50 miles east of Atlanta. A 14-year-old suspect is in custody. Rahul Bali with member station WABE in Atlanta has been following developments. Rahul, what more can you tell us about what happened at the school?
RAHUL BALI, BYLINE: So the first calls to law enforcement were around 10:20 this morning, Ari. And they were getting reports of an active shooter at Apalachee High School. That’s about two hours into the day for the school’s 1,900 students. Officers immediately responded, including two based at the school, and they confronted the suspect. Here’s Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.
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JUD SMITH: Our school resource officer engaged him, and the shooter quickly realized that if he did not give up that it would end with an OIS – or an officer-involved shooting. He gave up, got on the ground and the deputy took him into custody.
BALI: So of the four people who were killed, two were students, two were teachers. There were nine people who were injured who were taken to different local hospitals.
SHAPIRO: Now, authorities have identified the 14-year-old suspect, but NPR is not naming him. What more can you tell us about the alleged shooter?
BALI: Not much. Officials say they have interviewed him, but those officials did not reveal any kind of motive behind the shooting. Also, few details about the gun that was used or how many rounds were fired. But Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey says he will be tried for murder.
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CHRIS HOSEY: He is a 14-year-old student here at the high school. Again, he has been taken into custody. He will be charged with murder, and he will be tried as an adult and handled as an adult.
BALI: Ari, Georgia is one of the states where juveniles can be transferred to an adult court for some charges, like murder.
SHAPIRO: And how are people in Winder reacting today?
BALI: So my colleague, Chamian Cruz, has been on the scene all day. And she says so many people, they’re picking up their kids and they just said they were overwhelmed and didn’t want to talk. And again, it’s that phrase that she heard over and over again, overwhelmed. She did talk to one student who said they were huddled in the back of their classroom once the school went down onto a hard lockdown. Students were eventually evacuated. They gathered outside the school, many on the football field. Parents raced to the school. They parked some as far as a mile away and walked to get their kids.
SHAPIRO: School safety has been a big issue in Georgia recently. Tell us about the conversation and how this might change it going forward.
BALI: So Georgia’s Republican legislature last year passed a bill that required every school to develop a safety plan that included a response to acts of violence like these. The state has given also these school safety grants to schools for several years now. So there’s going to be a lot of scrutiny in the days ahead.
SHAPIRO: And what’s the reaction been from political leaders?
BALI: Well, of course, Georgia is a battleground state, and we’re a little more than two months from Election Day. So there could be some political implications. We’ve already heard from Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign event in New Hampshire where she said, you know, it was a senseless tragedy and called an end for what she calls an epidemic of gun violence. On social media, former President Donald Trump says, quote, “our hearts are with the victims.”
SHAPIRO: That is Rahul Bali with member station WABE in Atlanta. Thank you.
BALI: No problem.
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