As more details are released about a Georgia High School mass shooting that left four dead and at least nine injured on Wednesday, President Joe Biden and other elected officials are speaking out about the tragedy, with Biden saying, “we cannot continue to accept this as normal.”
In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Biden said, “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.”
The shooting occurred at Apalachee High School in Winder, about 45 minutes outside Atlanta, and the school was placed on lockdown Wednesday morning. One suspect has since been taken into custody, according to authorities.
“After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘enough is enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation. We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers,” Biden added.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the shooting first thing at a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon: “This week, kids across the country are heading back to school for the new school year. Today is supposed to be an exciting day for students and parents, but instead we’re seeing yet another horrific shooting.”
She added that the administration’s “hearts are with the families in Winder” and that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have both been briefed and will continue to work with state and local law enforcement officials.
Harris spoke on the shooting at a campaign event in New Hampshire saying, “This is just a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies…We have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all, you know it doesn’t have to be this way.”
Harris’ running mate in the upcoming presidential election, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, addressed the shooting at a meeting in Pennsylvania, according to the Washington Post. “This is tragic. We don’t know any of the details on it yet, but it’s a situation that’s all too common, and our hearts are out there right now,” he said. “Work needs to be done to prevent such shootings in the future.”
Former president Donald Trump reacted to the shooting on his social media site, Truth Social, Wednesday afternoon:
“Our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, GA,” he wrote. “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
Georgia Representative Mike Collins, a member of the Republican Party who represents the district where Apalachee High School is located, said that he is “praying for the victims, their families, and all students,” in a statement on X.
Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost also spoke out on X regarding the shooting: “Not even a month into the new school year and we’re seeing kids running for their lives from classrooms that were supposed to be safe spaces,” he said. “It’s time to stop putting guns over children—our communities deserve to live free from this senseless violence.” Frost once served as National Organizing Director of March for Our Lives, a gun violence activism group born out of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Georgia Sen. Raphael G. Warnock wrote in a lengthy thread on X that “can’t pray only with our lips—we must pray by taking action,” and that without said action on a bipartisan axis, “it’s only a matter of time before this kind of tragedy comes knocking on your door.”
“We don’t have to live this way,” he wrote.
This is a developing story.
