Four dead in Georgia high school shooting, one person in custody, authorities say

(In paragraph 22, please read "Riedman" instead of "Reidman", corrects spelling of last name)

By Rich McKay, Andrew Hay

ATLANTA (Reuters) -Four people were killed in a shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday just weeks after classes began, and a suspect was taken into custody, law enforcement officials said.

The shooting was the first of the new school year in the United States, and served as a stark reminder to students, teachers and parents of the threat of gun violence in schools and colleges across the nation.

The shooting left four dead at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, and nine people were taken to hospitals with injuries, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation posted on X.

One suspect was in custody, the Barrow County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. CNN, citing an unnamed source, reported that the suspect was a 14-year-old boy.

"What we see behind us is an evil thing today," Sheriff Jud Smith said during a brief news conference on school grounds.

Smith would not confirm that people were killed, saying only there were "multiple injuries" in the shooting.

The incident, which took place at the school about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Atlanta, appeared to be under control and students were being released at midday, a Barrow County Schools spokesperson said.

Local TV 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 enrollment of nearly 1,900 last year, began classes on Aug. 1.

Sheriff Smith said the first call law enforcement received about a shooting at the school came about 9:30 a.m., which would have been just over an hour after classes had started for the day.

CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported that the school had received a phone call warning of the shooting before it took place. The school district said it had no comment on whether such a call was received.

ABC News quoted a witness, student Sergio Caldera, as saying he was in chemistry class when he heard gunshots. Caldera, 17, told ABC his teacher opened the door and another teacher ran in to tell her to shut the door "because there's an active shooter."

As students and teachers huddled in the room, someone pounded on his classroom door and shouted several times for it to be opened. When the knocking stopped, Caldera heard more gunshots and screams. He said his class later evacuated to the school's football field.

Live aerial TV images showed several ambulances outside of the high school.

CNN said it witnessed a patient being loaded into a medical helicopter that had landed at the school.

"Multiple law enforcement agencies and Fire/EMS personnel were dispatched to the high school in reference to a reported active shooting," the sheriff's office said.

The FBI field office in Atlanta dispatched agents to the high school to support local law enforcement, said Jenna Sellitto, a spokeswoman for the office.

BIDEN CALLS FOR GUN SAFETY LEGISLATION

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 we receive more information."

"Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed," Biden said in a statement, calling on Republicans to work with Democrats to pass "common-sense gun safety legislation."

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee for president, called the shooting a "senseless tragedy."

"We've gotta stop it. We have to end this epidemic of gun violence," Harris said at the start of a campaign event in New Hampshire.

The campaign of former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the shooting.

The shooting was the first "planned attack" at a school this fall, said David Riedman, who runs the K-12 School Shooting Database. Apalachee students returned to school last month; many other students in the U.S. are returning this week.

The U.S. 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. The carnage has sparked pitched debate over the U.S. gun laws and the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which enshrines the right "to keep and bear arms."

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta, Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico, Brad Brooks in Colorado; Additional reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Nandita Bose in North Hampton, New Hampshire; editing by Jonathan Oatis)