Four people have died and at least nine were wounded in a school shooting in Georgia this morning.
At around 10:20am on Wednesday (September 4), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation received a call that an ‘active shooter’ opened fire at Apalachee High School located around an hour outside of Atlanta.
Law enforcement on the scene helped evacuate students and teachers, however it was soon confirmed that four people had died and nine were injured.
Law enforcement evacuated students onto the school’s football field. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
In a news conference, Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Chris Hosey shared: “There are four individuals who are deceased from this incident. Nine that have been taken to local hospitals with various injuries. Of those that are deceased, two were students and two were teachers here at the school.”
The suspect was arrested on-site and has since been confirmed to be 14-year-old Colt Gray who was a student at the school. Hosey further added that Gray will be charged with murder and will be tried as an adult.
The shooter was identified as one of the school’s students. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
Students of Apalachee High School have come forward recounting their horrifying memories from the tragic shooting, with the mother of one student, Erin Clark, sharing that she got a series of text messages from her son, 17-year-old Ethan Haney, that are absolutely heartbreaking.
In screenshots shared to Clark’s Facebook, the text messages from Ethan read: “School shooting rn [right now] / I’m scared / pls / I’m not joking.”
“I’m leaving work,” Clark replied.
“I love you,” Ethan wrote back.
“Love you too baby,” his mom texted before rushing to the school along with other parents.
Clark shared heartbreaking texts she received from her son. (Erin Clark/Facebook)
“Where are you,” Ethan’s mom followed up.
“Class / Someone’s dead,” her son replied.
Clark also told CNN that her son heard eight or nine gunshots before he and his classmate barricaded the door shut. She added that parents weren’t allowed to drive onto the road of the high school, so they parked down another street and walked.
“Once we got to the school, they directed us to go to the football field and meet our kids,” Clark told CNN. She thankfully found Ethan safe by the bleachers.
Clark described feeling ‘absolutely terrified’ when she got her son’s text messages and that she ‘kept praying he’d stay safe.’ She added that she was ‘in complete shock that this was actually happening.’
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