A 14-year-old boy will be charged with murder after a shooting at a Georgia high school left four people dead and nine injured.
An attack Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, Barrow County, left two students and two teachers dead, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Colt Gray, a student at the school, was arrested by two officers on campus, an official said. He will be tried as an adult.
Local Sheriff Judd Smith described the attack as “pure evil”.
Police first received reports of a shooting at the school at around 10:20 local time (14:20 GMT), in which about 1,900 students were shot.
“Within minutes, law enforcement responded to the scene and two school resource officers immediately identified the problem,” the sheriff said in a news release.
“The subject immediately surrendered. He surrendered and fell to the ground. Officers took him into custody.”
Officials said a motive has not been determined and law enforcement is not aware of “any targets at this time.”
One of the victims was 14-year-old Mason Schermerhorn, who had autism, local media reported WSB TV.
Mason’s family posted photos of him on social media after they couldn’t find him, and reports later confirmed he died in the shooting.
David Phoenix, a teacher and coach, was shot in the foot and hip and suffered a broken hip, according to social media posts from his family.
A person who identified herself as his daughter said on Facebook that he had undergone surgery but was in stable condition.
Law enforcement did not disclose what type of weapon was used or how many rounds were fired.
Sheriff Smith said the suspect was taken into custody and interviewed and spoke with investigators.
“It’s going to take a few days before we get answers to what happened and why this happened,” he told reporters.
Dozens of police officers quickly responded to the shooting at the school, which was cordoned off and cleared and the students were taken to a nearby football field before being released to their families.
Lyela Sayarath, who was in the alleged attacker’s class, told CNN that the suspect left the classroom at the beginning of the algebra class.
She said he came back and knocked on the door, which locked itself, but another student refused to let him in after discovering he had a gun.
The attacker then went to an adjoining classroom and started shooting, Ms. Sayarat told CNN.
Sophomore Alexsandra Romero said she was in class when someone broke in, yelling at students and warning them to get down.
“I just remember my hands shaking,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I felt bad because everyone was crying and everyone was trying to find their brothers and sisters.
“I can still imagine everything, like the blood, the shouting.”
Marques Coleman, 14, said he saw the attacker holding a “big gun” just before the shooting.
“I stood up and started running and he started shooting, about 10 times. He shot at least 10 times,” he told BBC America partner CBS News.
“My teacher started blocking the door with desks,” he said.
After standing up, the student said he saw “one of my classmates on the ground bleeding profusely,” another girl had been shot in the leg and a friend had been shot in the abdomen.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on X (formerly Twitter) that he was “praying for the safety of those in our classrooms” and said he was directing “all available state resources.”
Democratic White House candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, called the shooting “a senseless tragedy.”
“It is outrageous that in our country parents have to send their children to school every day and worry about whether they will come home alive.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“These precious children were taken from us so quickly by a sick, deranged monster,” Republican White House candidate Donald Trump posted on his social media platform “Truth Social.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland, the nation’s top law enforcement official, said federal agents were assisting in the investigation.
