FOUR KILLED, NINE OTHERS INJURED IN US SCHOOL SHOOTING IN GEORGIA

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Agency Report

A high school shooting in the US state of Georgia killed at least four people and injured nine others on Wednesday, according to law enforcement officials, and a suspect has been arrested.

Following the most recent chapter of America’s gun violence crisis—nnearly 400 mass shootings this year alone, according to one count—ppeople gathered on a sports field outside Apalachee High School, some forming a circle with their arms intertwined.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that four persons had been slain. There was no early information about the motive.

“An additional nine taken to various hospitals with injuries. Suspect in custody and alive. Reports that the suspect has been ‘neutralized’ are inaccurate,” the bureau said in a social media post.

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Earlier, school authorities were reported to have sent a message to parents saying they were enforcing a “hard lockdown after reports of gunfire.”

Following the announcement, parents were invited to the school to reunite with their children, with large queues of vehicles visible outside.

A student informed local media that he saw blood on the floor and a body as authorities brought him out of the building.

“I heard gunshots go off… I thought it was fake until I heard more gunshots and screaming,” said the male student, whose name was not given by the Fox 5 News channel.

On Wednesday morning, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper quoted 11th grade student Henry van der Walt as texting his mother that he thought “there’s a school shooting.”

Minutes later, he texted: “I love you.”

Local television footage showed ambulances driving across a school field about two hours after the attack was first reported, with scores of vehicles parked around the school.

The shooting occurred near the town of Winder, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, the state capital.

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, referring to the frequency of such attacks across the country.

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.

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, according to the GVA.

AFP