Police respond to reported shooting at Georgia high school

we are following the breaking news and other tragedy at another American high school, this time in Winder, Georgia. The Carroll County Sheriff's Office says one suspect is in custody. There are casualties, but we still don't know how many or what their conditions are at this time. We're also told a local hospital has received one gunshot wound victim from the school. CNN's Nick Valencia has been reporting on this throughout the morning. Nick, what do we know right now? Yeah, the initial calls came in unconfirmed reports of an active shooter about 1023 this morning in Winder, Georgia, 45 minutes northeast of Atlanta. And that shooting was later verified. We don't know exactly how many victims there were on the scene, but very early on, a source at the local hospital who was unauthorized to speak to the media but had knowledge of the situation, told me that Piedmont Regional Hospital and the Athens-Clarke County Area Trauma one hospital, the largest in North Georgia, was receiving gunshot victims from this shooting scene. And we saw this all sort of unfold in front of our eyes, a very fluid scene. Students out there on the track and field at one point forming a prayer circle. It seemed from the aerial view, we saw at least one medical helicopter transporting one victim from the scene there. And as you just mentioned, Phil, we know here in Grady Hospital, which is another trauma, one level facility that one of the victims from this shooting is being transferred over here, you know, to to a local hospital in Atlanta. Again, still an active scene. Multiple law enforcement agencies on the scene there, including the FBI. They put a social media post out just a short time ago saying that there are helping local law enforcement agencies there with the situation. it is still very active, though. parents still picking up students. It was within the last hour that the school system there in Barrow County notified parents of those students that they were allowed to be picked up from the school. And just the aerial video that we saw feel is just chilling and sobering as a parent, to see those images reminiscent of past school shootings, places like Columbine, where we saw masses of students out, you know, really trying to get information. And it's those uncertain moments where we don't know the details, we don't know if the shooter is still on the loose. That really is terrifying. That's not the case right now. We know that one suspect is in custody, so it seems to be at least there's a remedy in that. A sigh of relief, sort of for the community. There that's dealing with this, but still very much so. A terrifying situation with school just weeks underway. Yeah. And still trying to get a lot of information about what exactly happened here. The scale of what happened here as well. Nick, I know you'll keep reporting on that. Please keep us posted as we continue to watch from above. And these aerial shots appeared to be stretchers being loaded, into ambulances just a short while ago. Again, what we know right now, one suspect is in custody. There are casualties. How many? And their condition is still not clear based on what the sheriff's department has put out. We do know that one gunshot wound victim, has been reported at one of the trauma hospitals. I want to bring my panel in. Now, look, this wasn't guys what we planned to talk about, today. And yet, how many times have we been in situations where we've been reporting on whatever we're reporting on, and we are thrust into talking about this? there'll be plenty of time for politics. We can get into politics, but just know. What's your reaction? Your parents, you know. No. It's sadness. I mean, I think about growing up as a kid. This never happened when I was in high school. In elementary school, in in middle school. And the regularity with which this happens to our kids in this country, is just it's still shocking. It's still incredibly sad. And it's scary that these kids have to deal with this reality. They are going to be witnesses. at some point, they might have to talk to police about what they saw, at their school. They're a couple of weeks in to school. They probably get their brand new backpacks, and now they're having to to leave and evacuate because there was a shooting on their campus. It's such a violation. of of of that space and sort of sacred educational space that we're all familiar with. and, you know, this is just an intractable problem, and it's a uniquely American problem as well. I think that's the critical point. Like, look at the statistics around the entire world. It is a uniquely American problem. but as you also add, it is an intractable problem. I'm sorry, I'm not numb to it, but I'm also a realist on some level that it doesn't seem like there's any grand solution to fix this anytime soon. Well, I mean, on the one hand, I think, the Biden administration would point out that they actually did pass a small war gun control measure under his watch. So it's not true that nothing can ever get done on this issue, even if obviously what was done did not prevent this tragedy from occurring. but and, you know, there was this was a smaller but a focus of the Democratic convention. There were, the parents of victims of, school shootings and other gun violence, a very moving, even devastating segment that was part of that, convention. So it has been a part of the political conversation, obviously to a lesser degree, than some of the more top of mind issues. I this is a debate that's sort of frozen in place, right, with, with the Republicans more focused on, on either Second Amendment rights or on the broader problem of crime and disorder and putting violence in that context, rather than saying, as Democrats do, that it's a gun problem, and that the problem is people's access to guns. So that is the axis on which we seem to be perpetually stuck when we talk about this issue. Yeah. And just that Molly makes a great point. The most expensive gun related legislation to pass since I think 1994 was enacted. And this isn't saying that it wasn't effective. There have been studies and reviews of that legislation, which still kind of nascent stages that they believe it's had some effect. where does this go from here? From a policy perspective? It's mental health. On one side, it's done laws and the Second Amendment. On another side, the Second Amendment exists. That's a reality. We don't know what happened here right yet, which I always feel like is an important point. People should make up front. We have no idea what happened, how it happened, whose fault it was, who did what. what we do know is this keeps happening. Bingo. It keeps happening. And that to the frustration of, I think a lot of Americans, regardless of what side of the political aisle they're on, certainly on the Democratic side that Molly was referring to, gun violence protection groups have a long list of ideas and policy proposals of what could still be done, and a good chunk of those were enacted during the Biden administration, including the creation of a gun violence protection office at the white House, which Vice President Harris leads. she also talks about it on the campaign trail. She talks with disgust about the number of students that she has spoken to, who raise their hands when she has asked, how many of you have had to prepare for a potential shooting at your school? And, surely if they had a Democratic Congress fully in 20 and then in 2025, I think, and Harris were to win, there would be more policy proposals that they would seek to get done. But the truth is, it's been a stalemate politically for a long, long time. I grew up in Littleton, Colorado. The fabric of our community there, as well as the fabric of our country, are tinged by these repeated school shootings that have just been happening for decades now. David, oftentimes in, as near put it, sort of perfectly intractable situations. It's public pressure. It's, the momentum in the wake of a terrible situation that creates kind of the space and environment, for changes, which again, helped drive, the bipartisan effort that took place in terms of what happened in the Biden administration a couple of years ago. when you you're a numbers guy, you know, kind of the where voters are and what they're thinking in any given moment. How much does school shootings do? Guns, the this type of violence kind of rate in terms of how voters are looking at what's ahead? Well, I mean, the awful reality is that it goes up in voters minds when an incident like this is on their screens. And, we're talking about the intersection of politics. This this is taking place in one of the most contested states, in the election. So this is going to be on the screens, terribly tragically, for Georgia voters to be looking at, for quite some time here, no doubt. and we do see the issue sort of raised in the conscience of the voters when that happens. And then it, fades again as, headlines move on. I don't know if that ever fades, obviously, for those that are impacted and just looking at the picture, I mean, every one of those kids you see out there is going to go home tonight, like rattled and even if they were not directly in the moment, this this will impact them, their families, that their community at large, like that kind of affect. no doubt will will take place here. When you were getting the news from Nick, Phil and you said one of the things that we don't know yet is the scale of this. I mean, that's that's where we've come to, in this regularity thing of this happening in America. Is that the question now that we're waiting to learn is, well, what is the scale of this, that such a I'm not suggesting? It's not the right question. It's just such a perverse question that we have to ask as we, look at these incidents because, they have become so regular. Yeah. It's such an important point. And connecting what you said with what Jeff said in terms of the fabric of a community being forever shaken. We talk about the victims. We talk about their parents, the horrors they went through and our prayers for them, but also the thousands upon thousands of kids who have been in these schools. Now, the school has an enrollment of 2000. There's another 2000 kids who will be living with this moment. At the same time, a lot of people, a lot of kids are going back to school. A lot of parents are taking their kids back to school, in which, whether you want to consider it or not, thinking about this as a parent, as you drop your child off at school, there's something that's just unavoidable at this point. We will continue with the updates. Again, what we know at this point in time in Winder, Georgia, at Appalachia High School, there is one suspect that is in custody. police and law enforcement officials responded to a call of an active shooter at 1023 this morning. we know there are casualties. According to the sheriff's office, we don't know how many or what their condition is at this point. We do know that at least one gunshot wound victim has been taken to one of the trauma hospitals nearby.