Two students and two teachers killed in school shooting in Georgia – as 14-year-old suspect held
A 14-year-old suspect is in custody after a school shooting in the US state of Georgia, in which two students and two teachers were killed.
The shooting took place at Apalachee High School, situated in Winder in Barrow County – around 50 miles from the city of Atlanta.
The suspect is a 14-year-old student at the school, Chris Hosey, Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. He said the suspect would be tried as an adult.
Officers said they heard about the incident just before 9.30am local time, and responders from “multiple law enforcement agencies” were sent to the high school “in reference to a reported active shooting”.
The school was placed on lockdown, but this has now been cleared and pupils released to their families.
Dozens of police swarmed the campus and students rushed for shelter in the football stadium.
Local TV stations showed images of parents lining up in cars on a road outside the school, hoping to be reunited with their children.
Pic: WSB via AP
Camille Nelms said she was shedding tears when a gunman opened fire on her classroom.
As bullets came flying into her classroom, the teacher and students tried to take shelter in the corner.
“I was crying, I didn’t want to die that way,” Nelms told NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta. “I don’t want to meet the Lord that way.”
Student Jacob King said he had dozed off in his world history class after morning football practice when he heard about 10 gunshots.
He said he did not believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yelling at someone to put down their gun. He said when his class was led out, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be an injured student.
First responders gather at Apalachee High School. Pic: ABC Affiliate WSB via Reuters
Ashley Enoh was at home on Wednesday morning when she got a text from her brother, who is a senior at Apalachee High.
The message said: “Just so you know, I love you.”
When she asked in the family group chat what was going on, he said there was a gunman at the school.
The shooting sparked a stampede, according to local media reports.
The Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith initially told reporters: “Multiple people were wounded in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder”.
Students and staff gather next to the football field after the shooting. Pic: ABC Affiliate WSB via REUTERS
He described the investigation as “very, very fluid” and it was in the early stages.
“What you see behind us is an evil thing today,” Sheriff Smith said.
“I want to give our sympathies to our community, our school system, our kids, our parents that had to witness this today.”
US President Joe Biden, who has been briefed on the incident, said in a statement he and his wife, Jill “are mourning the deaths” and said: “What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart.
“Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”
Mr Biden urged Republicans to work with Democrats to pass “common-sense gun safety legislation.”
As the incident unfolded, Governor Brian Kemp said: “I have directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School and urge all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state.”
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Federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and ATF, are on the scene.
The shooting was the first “planned attack” of the new school year in the US, David Reidman, who runs the K-12 School Shooting Database, said.
Apalachee High School, which had an enrollment of nearly 1,900 last year, began classes on 1 August.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Read more from Sky News:
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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