Suspect held after shooting at US high school
A shooting at a high school in the US state of Georgia has caused an unknown number of injuries and a suspect has been arrested in a chaotic scene in which officers swarmed the campus and students rushed for shelter in a stadium.
One suspect was in custody, the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Shortly before 10.30am “officers from 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 statement said.
“Casualties have been reported, however details on the number or their conditions is not available at this time,” the statement added.
At a news conference, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith declined to give additional details about those injured in the shooting.
“What you see behind us is an evil thing,” Smith said, standing outside the school.
Helicopter video from WSB-TV showed dozens of law enforcement and emergency vehicles surrounding Apalachee High School in Barrow County, about 80km northeast of Atlanta.
When Erin Clark, 42, received a text from her son Ethan, a senior at the high school, that there was an active shooter, she rushed from her job at the Amazon warehouse to the school.
The two texted “I love you,” and Clark said she prayed for her son as she drove to the high school.
With the main road blocked to the school, Clark parked and ran with other parents.
Parents were then directed to a football field.
Amid the chaos, Clark found Ethan sitting on the bleachers.
Clark said her son was writing an essay in class when he first heard the gunshots.
Her son then worked with his classmates to barricade the door and hide.
“I’m so proud of him for doing that,” she said. “He was so brave.”
Students had only started the school year a little over a month ago before the shooting on Wednesday.
“It makes me scared to send him back,” she said.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Traffic going to the school was backed up for more than a kilometre as parents tried to get to their children there.
“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,” Georgia governor Brian Kemp said in a statement.
“We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners as we gather information and further respond to this situation,” Kemp added.
In a statement, the FBI’s Atlanta office said: “FBI Atlanta is aware of the current situation at Apalachee High School in Barrow County. Our agents are on scene co-ordinating with and supporting local law enforcement.”
Apalachee High School has about 1900 students, according to records from Georgia education officials.
It became Barrow County’s second largest public high school when it opened in 2000, according to the Barrow County School System.
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