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14-year-old shooter kills four at US high school
A 14-year-old boy killed four people, two students his age and two teachers, and wounded nine others, when he opened fire Wednesday at his high school in the southeastern United States, police said. The suspected shooter, a 14-year-old student, was the subject of a report by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2023 for threatening to commit a school shooting, based on photographs of weapons, the FBI said. Law enforcement responded to Apalachee High School in Winder, about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta, the state capital, after emergency calls were received Wednesday morning. The teenager was arrested by a police officer assigned to security at the school, local Sheriff Jud Smith told reporters, adding later that the nine injured would recover. “The shooter quickly realized that if he didn’t surrender,” The officer was going to open fire, the sheriff said. “He gave up, got on the ground and the officer arrested him.” He was taken into custody and will be tried as an adult for murder, the FBI said. – Vigil – This tragedy is part of a macabre series in the United States, long hit by school and university shootings, and where a third of adults own a gun. After this new shooting, people gathered for a vigil on a sports field outside the high school, some forming a circle holding hands. After the FBI report, the suspect was investigated, but denied making the threats, while his father said the teenager did not have access to weapons in the home. Local schools were also notified so that the suspect would be subject to increased surveillance. The shooter used an “AR-style” rifle and authorities are investigating how he brought the weapon into the school, explained the director of the FBI in Georgia Chris Hosey.Some students initially thought it was a new shooting drill, one told AFP, referring to exercises regularly practiced in American schools. “My teacher put us all in a little corner and everyone hugged each other, some of my friends were crying. Until two armed police officers came in and told us it wasn’t a drill and we weren’t safe yet,” said Alexsandra Romeo. Another student, Stephanie Folgar, 17, said she heard “loud bangs” and panicked students hiding in bathrooms and closets. “It’s scary to know that it could have been you,” she said. In the morning, the school administration had sent a message to parents saying they were implementing a “strict lockdown after gunfire.” Once the school was secured, parents were able to go to the school to find their children and long lines of vehicles were visible outside. – “Epidemic of violence” – US President Joe Biden has been outraged by this new tragedy, saying in a statement that the United States cannot “accept that this becomes the norm.” The Democrat has tried for years, without success, to further regulate access to firearms. “We must end this epidemic of gun violence in our country, once and for all,” Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris said in a campaign speech. Her opponent, Republican Donald Trump, denounced the actions of the shooter, calling him a “sick and deranged monster.” The state of Georgia, where the shooting took place, is one of the key states that could decide the election in November. At least 11,557 people have been killed this year alone in the United States in 384 mass shootings (resulting in at least four victims, dead or injured), according to figures from the American NGO Gun Violence Archive. In May 2022, 19 children and two teachers were victims of a horrific massacre in their school in Uvalde, Texas, committed by an 18-year-old boy with an assault rifle purchased legally.bur-seb-cjc-ube/rle/vgu/jco/ybl
