TRANSCRIPT
At least four people havevbeen killed and a number injured at the Apalachee High School in Winder in the US state of Georgia. Law enforcement officials say a 14-year-old suspect has been taken into custody.
The shooting was the first of the new school year, taking place just weeks after students returned from holidays.
The victims included two students and two teachers and authorities are investigating how the suspect obtained the gun.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith says public safety was a priority.
“I don't know why it happened. I may not ever know. We may not ever know. But I ask that you and our community lift up our schools, lift up our public safety, and that, again, we do not let this hateful event prevail.”
Local television stations broadcast images of parents lining up in cars on a road outside the school, hoping to be reunited with their children.
The school, which had an enrolment of nearly 1,900 last year, started classes on 1 August.
Sheriff Smith says the first call law enforcement received about a shooting at the school came about 9.30am.
Live aerial TV images showed several ambulances outside the high school.
Michelle and J.R Watson's daughter attends the school.
MICHELLE WATSON: "Really sad. really sad.”
J.R. WATSON: "You know, it took us a while before we realized that she wasn't one of the victims. I mean, for 45 minutes...”
MICHELLE WATSON: "An hour..."
J.R. WATSON: "An hour before we got word that she was okay, it was very terrifying. It's the least (last) thing you expect to happen in the heat around here of all places."
The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting and his administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as more information emerged.
A survey conducted by the US based Pew Research Centre in 2023, revealed that four-in-ten U-S adults say they live in a household with a gun, while 61 per cent said it was too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country.
Vice-president Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee for president, called the shooting a "senseless tragedy".
"This is just a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies. And it's just outrageous that every day, in our country, in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive. It's senseless. We've got to stop it. And we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. You know it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be this way."
The shooting has again revived the national debate about gun control - which remains a divisive issue in American politics.
The United States has seen hundreds of shootings inside of schools and colleges in the past two decades, with the deadliest resulting in over 30 deaths at Virginia Tech in 2007.
Not for profit group Gun Violence Archive which compiles statistics from over 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources, estimated that there were 18,854 gun deaths in the United States in 2023 - excluding suicides.
The deaths have sparked strong debate over U-S gun laws and the U-S Constitution's Second Amendment, which enshrines the right "to keep and bear arms."
