Parents and students leave the scene after being reunited after the shooting
CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA
Some in the school initially thought it was just another shooter drill, one student told AFP, referring to the controversial exercises common in US schools.
“Everyone just thought it was a fake drill until my teacher said we didn’t get an email,” Alexsandra Romeo said.
“She got us all in a little corner and everyone was just hugging each other, I had some of my friends crying. Until two police officers came in with their guns and told us that this is not a drill and that we’re still not safe.”
Another student, 17-year-old Stephanie Folgar, described hearing “loud bangs” and panicking students hiding in the bathrooms and the closet.
“It’s scary knowing that that could’ve been you,” she said.
One student told local media that he saw blood on the floor and a body as he was led out of the building by authorities.
The shooting occurred near the town of Winder, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, the state capital.
Earlier, school authorities were reported to have sent a message to parents saying they were enforcing a “hard lockdown after reports of gunfire.”
After the all-clear was given, parents were invited to the school to be reunited with their children, with long lines of vehicles visible outside.
An air evacuation helicopter landed near the site of the shooting after the incident
CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA
School shootings have become a sadly regular occurrence in the United States, where about a third of adults own a firearm and regulations on purchasing even powerful military-style rifles are lax.
Polls show a majority of voters favor stricter controls on the use and purchase of firearms, but the powerful gun ownership lobby is opposed to additional restrictions and lawmakers have repeatedly failed to act.
US President Joe Biden said he was mourning the dead.
“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,” he said.
Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire after the shooting, Vice President Kamala Harris said it was time to end the “epidemic of gun violence.”
Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said the perpetrator of the shooting was a “sick and deranged monster.”
This year, there have been at least 384 mass shootings — defined as a shooting involving at least four victims, dead or wounded — across the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
At least 11,557 people have been killed in firearms violence this year in the United States, according to the GVA.
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Publish date : 2024-09-04 11:51:00
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