President and governor on alert after deadly school shooting | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

ATLANTA – President Joe Biden and political leaders across Georgia have been closely monitoring the aftermath of the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder as local authorities tended to students and teachers.

According to the White House press office, Biden was briefed by his homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.

His administration will coordinate with federal, state and local authorities as new information becomes available.

In a statement, Governor Brian Kemp said, “I have directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School and urge all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state. We will continue to work with local, state and federal partners as we gather information and continue to respond to this situation.”

State school superintendent Richard Woods called the shooting “an unimaginable loss for Barrow and our entire educational community.”

Woods said the Georgia Department of Education is in contact with the appropriate authorities.

“I ask all citizens of Georgia to keep in mind the Apalachee High School community and especially the families of those who died. I know that we will come together as a state to support the Barrow County community as we deal with this tragic loss,” Woods wrote.

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, who represents the district in Congress, said in a post on social media platform X that he was praying for the victims and their families, as well as for all the high school students.

“We thank law enforcement for their quick response in securing the school and arresting the shooter,” Collins wrote.

Democratic U.S. Representative Lucy McBath, whose son was murdered in 2012, wrote on X that she was “praying for the families in our state and across the country.”

“Too many people are still victims of gun violence. No family should have to go through this,” she said.

McBath reiterated her call for gun restrictions during a segment of the Democratic National Convention last month.

In a post on X, Speaker of the state House of Representatives Jon Burns said: “We are praying for the safety of the students, faculty and staff of Apalachee High School and the law enforcement officers on site. We are closely monitoring the developing situation.”

Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones wrote in a post on X: “We are monitoring the incident that occurred at Apalachee High School. We thank the brave men and women who responded. Our thoughts and prayers are with the students, teachers, their families, the entire community and first responders.”

Some Democratic state lawmakers responded by calling for legislative action to prevent gun violence.

“The 'guns everywhere' policy promoted by the Georgia Republican Party must be repealed if we truly want to reduce the number of school shootings,” State Senator Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) said on X.

And State Senator Elena Parent posted on X: “A mass shooting occurred at Apalachee High in Barrow County this morning. The more we learn about what happened, the more certain it becomes: lax gun laws fuel the horror of school shootings. We owe it to our children not to have to live like that.”

CANDIDATES GET INVOLVED

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, opened a campaign rally in New Hampshire with a message of condolences to the victims of the shooting.

She also called the shooting a “senseless tragedy” and reiterated President Joe Biden's call for gun control.

“It's just outrageous that parents in our country, in the United States of America, have to send their children to school every day and worry about whether they're going to come home alive,” she said. “It's senseless.”

Her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, posted a statement of condolences on social media and rebuked the alleged attacker, a 14-year-old who is currently facing murder charges.

“Our condolences go out to the victims and families of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, Georgia,” he wrote.

“These beloved children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”

In New Hampshire, a crowd gathered outside a brewery to hear Harris' policy proposal to cut taxes for small businesses.

However, she said she deviated from the script to address the events in Georgia and the “gun violence epidemic.”

Harris spoke about meetings with young people at colleges, universities and vocational schools across the country who reported the impact the threat of violence on campus has had on their lives.

“One of the questions I asked every time I went into the auditorium with these young leaders – the students – was, 'Raise your hand if you had to participate in a school shooting drill at some point between kindergarten and 12th grade,'” she said.

Almost every hand was raised, Harris said. She thanked the students in the crowd in New Hampshire who also raised their hands.

She said gun violence prevention is one of the many issues at stake in this year's election.

“Our children are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential, and part of their big, beautiful brains is worried that a shooter is going to burst through the classroom door,” she said.

“It doesn’t have to be that way, it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Information for this article was contributed by Michelle Baruchman and Tia Mitchell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.