WINDER, Ga. (AP) — A 14-year-old student opened fire at a Georgia high school, killing four people Wednesday, authorities said, sending students running for cover in classrooms — and eventually a football stadium — as officers surrounded the school grounds and parents rushed to check on their children.

The dead were identified as two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta. At least nine other people — eight students and one teacher — were taken to hospitals with injuries.

The words “hard lockdown” appeared on the screen in junior Layla Ferrell’s health class, and the lights began to flash. She and her frightened classmates lined up desks and chairs in front of the door to create a barricade, she recalled.

Sophomore Kaylee Abner was in geometry class when she heard the gunshots. She and her classmates hid behind the teacher’s desk, and then the teacher began knocking over the desk to try to block the classroom door, Abner said. A classmate next to her was praying, and she was holding his hand as everyone waited for police.

As students ran into the football stadium, Abner saw teachers taking off their shirts to help treat gunshot wounds.

Police officers arrive at the scene as students are evacuated to the football stadium after the Apalachee High School campus in Winder, Georgia, was placed on lockdown Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (Erin Clark via AP)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Two school resource officers encountered the shooter within minutes of the report of shots fired, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said. The suspect, a student at the school, immediately surrendered and was arrested. He is charged as an adult with murder.

The teen was questioned after the FBI received anonymous tips in May 2023 about online threats to commit an unspecified school shooting, the agency said in a statement.

The FBI narrowed the scope of the threats and referred the case to the sheriff’s office in Jackson County, which neighbors Barrow County.

The sheriff’s office interviewed the 13-year-old and his father, who said there were hunting rifles in the home but the teen did not have free access to them. The teen also denied making threats online.

The sheriff’s office notified local schools to continue monitoring the teen, but the FBI said there was no basis for an arrest or further action.

Authorities were still investigating how the suspect obtained the gun used in the shooting and brought it to the school in Barrow County, a rapidly growing suburban area on the edge of the growing Atlanta metropolitan area. Officials would not say at an afternoon news conference what type of weapon was used.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith choked up as he began speaking during the briefing. He said he was born and raised in the community and his children are in the school system.

“My heart aches for these children. My heart aches for our community,” he said. “But I want to make it clear that hate will not win in this county. I want that to be clear and known. Love will win over what happened today.”

It was the latest in dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including notably deadly ones in Newtown, Conn., Parkland, Fla., and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have sparked heated debates over gun control and rattled parents whose children grow up accustomed to active-shooter drills in classrooms. But they have done little to change the nation’s gun laws.

Before Wednesday, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within 24 hours, excluding the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.

Last year ended with 217 mass killings, making 2023 one of the bloodiest years for such shootings in the country’s history.

On Wednesday in Winder, Landon Culver, an 11th-grade student, said he left algebra class to get a drink of water when he heard gunshots and then saw a person wearing a black hoodie and holding a long gun.

“I didn’t stay there long to check it out,” he said.

Instead, he ran back into the classroom and closed the door. The class gathered in the back in the darkness, waiting for the madness to end. Culver listened as the shots echoed through the building.

“You just wonder which one is going to be your best friend or your love interest?” he said.

Police later arrived and escorted the students out. As they were leaving the building, Culver saw “several people who had been shot.”

“You hear about these things, but you never think it could happen to you until it happens.”

Ashley Enoh was at home this morning when she got a text from her brother, a senior at Apalachee High School: “I want you to know I love you.”

When Erin Clark, 42, received a text from her son Ethan, a senior, about an active shooter, she ran from her job at an Amazon warehouse to school. They both texted “I love you,” and Clark said she prayed for him as she drove.

Since the main road to the school was blocked, she parked and ran with other parents. They were directed to the football field, and amid the chaos, Clark found Ethan sitting in the bleachers.

Clark said her son was writing a paper for class when he first heard the gunshots. He worked with his classmates to barricade the door and hide.

“I’m so proud of him for doing it,” she said. “He was so brave.”

“I’m afraid to send him away,” Clark said. “I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Traffic to the school was blocked for more than a mile as parents tried to reach their children. Barrow County schools will be closed for the rest of the week as they cooperate with the investigation, but grief counseling will be available.

“It’s just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, parents have to send their children to school worrying whether they’re going to come home alive,” Vice President Kamala Harris said during a campaign visit to New Hampshire.

Former President Donald Trump wrote in a message posted on social media: “These beloved children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and crazy monster.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement: “This is the day every parent dreads, and Georgians everywhere will be hugging their children tighter tonight because of this heartbreaking event.”

Apalachee High School has about 1,900 students, according to Georgia education officials. It opened in 2000 and was named for the Apalachee River at the southern end of Barrow County, according to the school system.

Hundreds of people gathered at Jug Tavern Park in downtown Winder on Wednesday evening for an ecumenical prayer vigil. Volunteers handed out candles, as well as water, pizza and tissues. Some knelt as a Methodist pastor led the crowd in prayer after a Barrow County commissioner read a Jewish prayer of mourning.

Some wore sports gear from Apalachee’s rival Winder-Barrow High School. At the end of the vigil, someone released balloons in Apalachee blue, gold and white.

Sophomore Shantal Sanvee, who was in class near the shots, said, “I saw, like, a lot of blood. And it was just, it was just horrible.”

“I don’t think I would like to stay here for a long time,” she added.

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Associated Press reporters Sharon Johnson and Mike Stewart in Winder; Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; and Charlotte Kramon, Kate Brumback and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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