Boy, 14, in custody after killing four and injuring dozens in US school shooting

There was a heavy police presence in the area. Credit: AP

A 14-year-old boy is in custody after four people were killed and more than 30 were injured in a school shooting in Georgia, United States.

US authorities have named Colt Gray as the suspect, and confirmed he was a student at the school.

Two of those killed were students and two were teachers, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Chris Hosey confirmed in a press conference.

Video from outside the Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia showed at least five ambulances and a large law enforcement presence on the campus.

A helicopter was also seen airlifting wounded people to hospital, where nine people had to be admitted for their injuries.

The incident occurred at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Credit: AP

Apalachee High School has about 1,900 students. All schools in the Barrow County School System were placed on lockdown and police were sent to all district high schools as a precaution, but no further incidents were reported.

Hosey said the sheriff’s office received calls of an active shooter at the school at around 10:20 am local time.

Law enforcement arrived at the scene within minutes in addition to two school resource officers already assigned to the school.

The resource officers “immediately encountered the subject within just minutes of this report going out,” Hosey said.

“Once they encountered the subject, the subject immediately surrendered to these officers and he was taken into custody,” he added.

US officials told CNN the school had received a phone threat ahead of the incident on Wednesday morning. Officers are investigating who made the call.

All schools in the area were put under lockdown after the shooting. Credit: AP

Reacting to the incident, Kamala Harris called the shooting a "senseless tragedy".

She said: “It’s just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive."

“We’ve got to stop it,” she continued, adding that “it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Erin Clark, the mother of a student in his final year at the school, said her son heard eight or nine gunshots before barricading his classroom door.

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In a statement on social media, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp urged “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state”.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the incident, the White House said, offering federal support to state and local officials.

The US has suffered at least 385 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as those in which four or more victims are shot.

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