Authorities responded to a shooting Wednesday morning at a high school in northern Georgia. One suspect was taken into custody, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed.
Administrators had earlier placed students and faculty on lockdown as reports emerged online of a possible active shooter at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, which is about an hour’s drive from Atlanta. The premises were cleared within an hour, the school said, and students were released to their families.
There was a heavy police presence seen on the school’s property Wednesday morning, CBS affiliate WANF reported at around 11 a.m. EDT. Aerial footage from the news station showed dozens of ambulances, officers and a medical helicopter gathered in the parking lot and on the green outside of the building. At that time, at least one person had been transferred into the helicopter on a stretcher and students evacuated to the school’s stadium, where buses were due to pick them up, according to WANF. Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation were also called to the scene.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp addressed the situation in vague terms in a statement shared on social media around 12 p.m., saying his office had moved state resources to help with the response to what he described as an “incident at Apalachee High School.”
“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,” Kemp said. Barrow County includes Winder.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.