Atlanta bishops say recent high school shootings left them heartbroken by victims’ lives – Catholic Standard

The Catholic bishops of Atlanta prayed “for healing and strength” for those injured in the September 4 mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. The suspected shooter was 14-year-old Colt Gray, who is still alive and in custody.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, at least four people were killed and at least nine were injured and hospitalized.

In a joint statement issued on September 4, Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer of Atlanta and the auxiliary bishops of the diocese said: “Our hearts ache for those whose lives were so cruelly ended by this devastating tragedy.”

“We mourn and pray with those who have lost children and loved ones. We ask God for healing and strength for the injured,” they said. “And we ask God's blessings for our first responders and medical personnel, especially during this traumatic time.”

The bishops called the shooting “another grim reminder” that additional measures to prevent gun violence “cannot wait until another tragedy occurs.”

“We again appeal to elected officials, regardless of their political or religious affiliation, to work together to enact laws and provide services that prevent a recurrence of such tragedies,” they said.

Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, told reporters that two of the dead were teachers and two were students. Hosey said Gray has been charged with murder and will be tried as an adult.

Apalachee High School will remain closed for the rest of the week, the superintendent said, as the school district works with law enforcement.

In an initial statement, the Barrow County Sheriff's Office said authorities were dispatched to the school when officers from multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a reported shooting that morning.

The school is located about 50 miles outside of Atlanta. A spokesman for the city's Grady Health System told CNN that the hospital was treating at least one gunshot victim from the school who was brought there by helicopter.

Governor Brian Kemp (Republican of Georgia) wrote in a post on X that he had “deployed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School.” He also asked “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state.”

A White House spokesman said President Joe Biden had been briefed by his homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall “about the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, and his administration will continue to coordinate with federal, state and local authorities as we receive more information.”

In a statement, Biden said: “Jill and I mourn the deaths of those whose lives were cut short by further senseless gun violence and think of all the survivors whose lives are forever changed.”

“What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now become another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart,” Biden said. “Students across the country are learning to duck and take cover instead of learning to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”

Biden said his administration was “coordinating closely with federal, state and local officials” and that he was “grateful to the first responders who took the suspect into custody and prevented further loss of life.”

“Ending this epidemic of gun violence is a personal matter for me,” Biden said, noting that he Bipartisan legislation for safer communitieswhich he described as “the most significant gun safety law in decades,” as well as other executive actions against gun violence.

“We have made significant progress, but this crisis requires more,” he said, calling on Republicans and Democrats to work together and “pass sensible gun safety legislation” after decades of deadlock on the issue.

“We must once again ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, require secure storage of firearms, implement universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers,” Biden said. “These actions will not bring back the people tragically killed today, but they will help prevent even more families from being torn apart by tragic gun violence.”

At the time of the shooting, the high school had only been open for a month.

Last year, the Catholic bishops of the Atlanta Province signed a joint statement on June 27, 2023, calling on federal and state officials to take “decisive action” to enact meaningful legislation to combat the “plague of gun violence” at the national and local levels. The bishops said the “ready availability of firearms poses an imminent threat to the well-being of children” and urged lawmakers to prevent them from “falling into the hands of those who would commit acts of violence against children in schools, against their families, or against themselves.”