Four killed in Georgia high school shooting; Suspect in custody

Four people were killed and nine others were injured after a teenage gunman opened fire at a high school in Winder, Georgia, an old railroad town northeast of Atlanta.

The identities of the victims have not been released, but police said they include two students and two teachers. Apalachee High School, which has about 2,000 students and staff, resumed classes early last month after summer break.

Police said a 14-year-old boy, Colt Gray, also a student at the school, was in custody and would be charged as an adult. Sheriff Jud Smith said a school resource officer engaged the shooter, who then realized he would be killed if he didn’t surrender.

“He quit,” said the sheriff, who grew up in the school district, and said his own children are students there now. “My heart hurts for these kids,” Smith said.

The shooting punctuated a sunny and cool late-summer morning in Winder, the Barrow County seat of government, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Atlanta.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement on Friday that state officials and resources are being deployed.

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

Nearby school districts have stepped up patrols in response to the shootings, according to the AP. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, in a statement, said “out of an abundance of caution” extra patrols would be deployed at the city’s schools for the rest of the day.

There had been 29 mass killings in the US this year as of Wednesday morning, according to a database maintained by the AP and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. The database includes every 2006 mass killing by all guns in which four or more people, excluding the perpetrator, were killed in a 24-hour period.

Bloomberg’s Brett Pulley produced this report.

Photo: The scene after Wednesday’s shooting. (Bloomberg)

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Georgia Numbers Education K-12