BREAKING LIVE | CNN: 4 killed, roughly 30 more injured in shooting at Apalachee High School

e e released and again we've heard from the governor and the FBI that federal law enforcement on scene here helping with the m massive response that we see here live from our helicopter and our ground crew Molly Oak all live on the scene this is that on ground perspective you just see the massive number of cars all the students all the faculty and staff that uh are there at the school fire trucks and ambulances in the distance these are the scenes that make your heart sink when you see and it's playing out in real time here in our community so now we're sort of switching to our ground shot from our cruise that we have there this is that line of parents that are outside the school we're trying to wait to see if we can get our helicopter shot back they've been out there for uh more than an hour so they're going to regroup and we're going to try to come back uh to that and so we're just kind of walking you through this scenario as we still see multiple um emergency medical Vehicles there on the scene and that is because even as this is all unfolding within the last 10 minutes we saw someone being taken away on a chopper um presumably not connected to the shooting because that was all secure this was in the football field area which was in the safety zone per se right and that person was taken away you have to think there is stress out there there is anxiety out there there is so much fear that is pumping through these students as they wait to be reunited with their families this is some video that we're running back that we got from the chopper just showing where where the students were taken to safety there in the football field area that's a really important shot in good perspective cuz one you see just how many students we're talking about a school of 1900 filling the bleachers there filling this the um the football stadium area that shot right there is sort of what's become sort of the command center we saw that mobile command unit uh that was there and also that's where the medical helicopter we've been talking about this was at about 11:20 this morning where this uh LifeLight helicopter was taking off we saw one person on a stretcher being carried into that helicopter and we watched Together live as it made its way to a hospital again we can confirm one of the four injured NBC reporting that there are four injured one of the four Grady hospital has confirmed they have a gunshot wound there and are treating that person we don't know the ages I think that's also very important here we don't know the ages of the the people involved again NBC reporting four injured two people have died but we don't know the ages of any of the people involved we know there are about 1,900 students and we know it was a full day with uh entire staff in the school as well so we are waiting to hear uh about that as well as you get that overview of what's been happening now for more than 2 hours at appalache High School in Winder Georgia I love and Al is Molly Oak has been working on the ground here trying to give us more information Liza luk is handing me information uh from the side and so even the White House Press office has sent out this release saying President Biden has been briefed by his homeland security advisor Liz Sherwood Randle on the tragic shooting at appalachi High School in Winder Georgia and his administration will continue coordinating with federal state and local officials as we receive more information uh producers can you tell us if Molly has those interviews are those ready Molly Oak is on the ground talking to people out there as uh mostly parents are responding trying to uh reconnect and reunite with their children President Joe Biden just releasing uh information saying that he has been briefed on the situation along with Governor uh Brian km also saying that he has indeed uh sent out even Federal authorities here to join in on this investigation here and the entire Community sending our strength and support as this is all playing out as we watch it together in real time Molly Oak is live on the ground talking to people impacted there Molly I understand you've talked to some loved ones of the students there as they're waiting to reunite and learn more about what's happened inside the school during the shooting yeah Cheryl iisha I'm going to stay off camera just so you can get this view of all of the law enforcement that's still here you know earlier when I spoke with you all I told you the only thing that may rival the amount of law enforcement on scene is the amount of loved ones that's who we've been talking to I talked with one man who said he couldn't even believe it was real when he got the text from his son and I just spoke with a grandmother here is what she told me I feel really sorry for the kids that they've had to experience this and the parents who got those phone calls that it was their child um he was with the principal and the principal told him run to the band room don't look back just keep running so that's all I know I'm so happy he's okay and your you said your daughter is with him now yes his mom okay yeah it's a sigh of relief yes ma'am you guys could see it cuz she had sunglasses on but from standing just about a foot away from her I could watch her as she was choking back tears the entire time she was speaking with me I mean she talked about also getting the call from her grandson's mother when she was at work saying there's a shooting at the high school you need to go now and she said she immediately just got up told the front desk I'm out of here and then drove here as fast as she physically could now happy to say that her grandson is okay he's a senior here at the high school he had he is with his mom now she says but you heard her just hering account of what he experienced inside the school and I'm going to join her in just of our thoughts and prayers for all the kids students sta faculty and staff that are inside that school all the loved ones that are out here it's it's hard to even talk to people people right now guys I was shaking listening to her story I've been shaking listening to other people's stories of when they got those texts or phone calls so our hearts go out to all of them as this investigation continues back to you all so Molly tell us about these cars that are lining the street are they able to maneuver or does it appears that everyone is sort of just gotten out of the cars because they're kind of stuck there as they try to make their way to their kids this place is on the strictest form of lockdown that I have seen in a long time guys I mean when you park your car you are parking your car and getting out and that's what a lot of these parents that I talked with as they're making their way through they're just trying to get as close as physically possible to the school so whether that means they are parking and just going there was one guy who found a scooter he grabbed that and started going we've seen people getting on golf carts just trying to get as close as physically possible to those kids that one parent told me earlier have been moved to the football field the only cars that we are seeing coming in and out is law enforcement or ambulances and then of course the helicopters in the sky moving above but that's the only movement that we really see here is whether people are on foot walking to and from the school or you see sheriffs you see law enforcement you see ambulances there's a golf cart that I was just mentioning so people are definitely getting creative and how and trying to get as close as physically possible just to get their hands on their kids and feel that they are okay because I know it's a different thing for a parent to hear that a kid is okay than to physically be able to see and feel your kid and know that they are okay after something like this so that's what these parents are trying to do they are just trying to lay some eyes and hands on their kids to know that everyone is okay as we see another ambulance cruise on by out here again remember the gbi confirming to us that this is not just a local investigation at this point this is local state and federal and that's why you're seeing this mass amount of response here at the high school today guys yeah Molly I I I have to say when you see an ambulance go by with with lights on it gives you gives you pause yeah for sure um again from NBC we're reporting four injured and two have died but um Aisha brought up a good point just even just the trauma of the experience is something that may be affecting kids so certainly I know you're talking to people on the ground let us know if you hear any more information about um you know that ongoing response to to help students and staff they're on the ground and this visual of uh parents just walking down the street they're just leaving their cars walking down the street Molly you're exactly right it's one thing to hear that your loved one's okay it's another to see them and as people know there are injured and two who have passed away um there are are people who are are scared and and are not going to feel okay until they see someone standing in front of them and so again we know Grady Memorial level one Trauma Center in Atlanta about an hour away from the school they've reported receiving one of those victims let's get to 11 Al lives Erica Murphy there live from Grady Hospital telling us what she is seeing there Erica what can you tell us well we know that we have had some shots fired at appalachi High School in Winder this morning and we know that several people were shot and what we also know today is that Grady Memorial officials are confirming that at least one of the victims from that high school shooting has been brought here to Grady Memorial by medac now the suspect is in custody we are learning that according to the Sheriff's Office in Barrow County the details about exactly what happened here are still rolling in but we do know that both the FBI are on the scene gbi is on the scene and Governor Kemp is sending all resources to help out with the situation now we are continuing to check in with authorities so we can learn more about exactly how many victims there are how many fatalities how many injured um of course once we get those details we will share them with you reporting from Grady Memorial Hospital Erica Murphy 11 alive news Erica thank you so much we want to share a a new information that we've just gotten from the mayor of Atlanta Andre Dickens who writes I'm reading here with you as I'm going to read this together let me just find it here on the screen my prayers are with the high school students staff and families affected by the senseless act of violence in wer Georgia I have been in contact with the chief and the Atlanta Police Department they've been working with the Atlanta Public Schools Police Department to bolster patrols around our schools for the rest of the day out of abundance of caution APD has also been on standby in case law enforcement agencies need assistance with this incident May God Comfort the victims and their loved ones in the difficult days ahead again that's coming just moments ago from mayor Andre Dickens in the city of Atlanta and although we know that one suspect is in custody it's interesting to hear that the mayor's initial response was to talk to APD and sort of bolster patrols around the schools here because what happens is the information spreads right and you don't want that fear and anxiety going throughout the district throughout Metro Atlanta to these students as they know something has happened somewhere else so just giving that sense of peace and calm to the students as they go about the rest of their school day it's sort of hard to know that something like this has happened to your peers whether you know them or not you know what I mean it just sort of gives that feeling of if we see a heavier police presence around we know that you know people are aware and people are efforting to keep us safe think about it you're a child even though we're talking about a high school kids have encountered one of the biggest tragedies they will probably ever encounter in their lifetime we don't know what they heard what they saw during this incident the grandmother that Molly spoke to said her grandson a singer there at appalache high school was with a principal who said run Don't Turn back run to the band room can you imagine just what's going to be going through his mind you know for months and in years to come just of this moment here think about all of the students there that we see years later from school shootings that happened so many years ago they may have been in elementary school it is burned in their minds what happened that day I'm still in touch with uh a number of parents and students who are at Coline high school and this was a defining moment in their lives um and I think it's important for the community to come together in a lot of ways in A Moment Like This and to show our support for people impacted and our understanding that this will this will be a moment that has uh great repercussions for everybody inside the school and Beyond yeah because uh of just the anxiety and and and how it gives you pause for what students and staff face a every day as they go into school just to learn just to learn and and parents I know that these are thoughts that you think about and and you know that the protocols are in place and you know uh what can happen but you still don't expect that phone call or text to come through and it came through today for every parent of a student at appalache high school 1,00 students at this school and I can't help but think Cheryl we are just a few weeks into the new school year you know and so this is going to be something that they have to live with and navigate throughout the rest of this school year and we just see this huge response of these family members and loved ones to just imagine there are still some parents that haven't been able to reach their child or to see them physically to know that they are okay and when you roll up and just like Molly said the only thing that's equal to the amount of law enforcement and emergency Personnel is the amount of cars of parents lined up trying to get to their child and so there are some heavy pounding Hearts right now even we are up here bringing this story I'm keeping you guys updated on social media we're keeping you updated on air we are all experiencing this together getting this information from Winder Georgia as it comes in it is 12:50 right now that call came in from appalache high school at 10:23 this morning so we are well over 2 hours into this incident and just in the last 30 minutes we saw another stretcher being taken away from someone dealing with the medical emergency after this school was Secure because that one suspect is in custody so even with that knowledge there is still fear pumping through these students in these faculty members who just witnessed this and the waiting waiting now for 2 hours to leave the school grounds to get information to be reunited for whether you're a student or maybe a loved one or spouse or you have a parent who teaches at the school um thinking about the entire staff today and again we want to reiterate while NBC um is reporting four injured and two dead we don't know the ages of anybody involved we know one gunshot patient was taken to Grady a level one Trauma Center no information yet on where the other three uh injured according to NBC are uh waiting to hear more from the sheriff's department it stood out to aish and I both initially when the sheriff's department sent out its first official piece of information that the word was casualties plur and I think both of us took a deep breath um when we saw that knowing that this was going to have um a a wide a wide impact in a lot of ways parents still walking down the road to the high school you see this vantage point is quite a distance from the school there's no driving in there for some parents they're just going to get out of the car and walk to go find their loved ones again a a coordinated effort from the FBI state and local police at this point as the governor was uh quick to share that information um more than an hour ago talking about State resources responding to the incident and the governor said all Georgians asking all of us to pray for the safety of those in our classrooms uh in Barrow County and and across the state we understand that that this is something every student every parent every teacher um watches um and will change the way they get up and and head to school tomorrow and they're also just so many questions though out there right so we know that we have the two dead and the four injured with one of those injured people being at Grady but we don't know the extent of those injuries right and so that's sort of a major question mark here in this story as well just how severe those injuries are for the people uh who have been injured here during this shooting we are well over 2 hours into this tragedy here at appalache high school and we're still just getting this new fresh information as it comes in but the main priority right now beyond the medical perspective is reuniting all of those students a school of 1900 with their loved ones and Molly Oak is on the ground along with Doug Richards as well we're sure Doug is out there gathering information and talking to families on the ground um just really how tough it is to get inside of there with this school being uh still on this lockdown here at this property and this video um that we're seeing right now that was a little bit earlier when we saw multiple emergency vehicles speeding away from the high school we have no idea where they were going or if there's now going to be possibly a second scene here that we're going to hear about so as we're learning the information you guys are learning the information too and a key piece of information worth reiterating is one suspect is in custody and that would be a primary source of potential information for investigators who are now trying to piece together what happened and why and if perhaps just that one person that one suspect in custody was involved or if there are others they need to be talking to so that's a key piece of information uh in a couple of ways one that that suspect is in custody and they're not looking for that person um and also that person being a source of information to piece together what happened inside appalache high school this morning at 1023 just got a good uh question from someone who's uh joining me on my Instagram live saying are they looking for uh anyone else there uh besides the one person that they have in custody they have not told us that uh Cheryl check your phone we just got a text message from Liza Lucas we are hearing from the superintendent Richard Woods on this shooting here so all right we're going to go ahead and get that one up yep I've got it right here Aisha it says I am devastated the state superintendent this is yes State superintendent Richard Woods on the shooting at appalachi high school I'm going to just read this live with you together here on the air I'm devasta ated by the news of the tragic shooting at appalache high school today my heart and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those affected and the entire Barrow County Community this is an unimaginable loss for Barrow and for our entire educational Community across the state the Georgia Department of Education is actively monitoring the situation in Barrow County and will continue to respond as additional information is available our school safety team is in contact with a Georgia Emergency Management and homeland security agency and with Barrow County schools and our entire agency stands ready to assist in any way possible I ask that all Georgians keep the community of appalache high school and first and foremost the families of those lost in your thoughts I know we will come together as a state to support the Barrow County Community as they face this tragic loss again that is from the state superintendent Richard Woods just moment ago about the shooting at appalache high school and we are still awaiting for new information to come in again just received a very good question are they looking for anyone else besides the one suspect that is in custody we have not heard any confirmation that they are we've only been told that the one suspect is in custody two people are dead and additionally that uh four people have been injured here so this is a very fluid situation even more than 2 hours in as we continue to get information uh on this story as it is developing those families showing up there to the school trying to make contact with their students there 1900 students attend this school now we do want to say that this has gone all the way to the White House we just got word that President Biden has been briefed on this situation Governor km has responded saying he is dispatching however many resources are necessary including the FBI FBI Atlanta confirming their involvement here in this investigation already along with Atlanta mayor Andre dickin releasing a statement saying out of an abundance of caution they have amped up security and police presence around APD uh surrounding Atlanta Public Schools giving them the sense of peace that they may be looking for knowing that this has happened to you know their peers there in Winder so we looking at video that we got earlier from our Chopper just showing all these students Gathering there on the grounds just you can't even imagine how hard it is you know to get all of these students back to their loved ones just as far as they you know trying to get there the streets are blocked off so you got to imagine how many cars are just responding here trying to get their kids and just lay eyes on them for the first time after getting that text or phone call you know Aisha another question that came in about were their school our officers inside the school and we we don't know that for certain but we can tell you that the Barrow County School District website shows at least two sro's are assigned to appalache high school so we do know that they have uh SRO that are assigned to the school um I'm sure in the days and weeks ahead we'll learn more about what was um what support was inside the school when all of this happened at 10:23 this morning yeah we're just about you know 2 and a half hours removed from that first call coming in there uh right at 1023 Cheryl and so when you put it into perspective I think the number one goal right now these are all great questions that we are getting in from viewers it's that these things are going to take so much time and that school has to be 100% secure the investigation will be extremely extensive as they start to uncover and peel off the layers to this scenario we came on air with only the fact that the school was possible even lock down so from 11:15 to now almost 1 p.m. we've evolved from this possible lockdown at appalache to we see one medical helicopter leaving the scene and now we understand from NBC News two are dead for injured so just look how the information continues to build here as all of this comes in so as we get it we are bringing it to you within seconds we have reporters literally on the side handing us these price releases and information as it comes in so while we do know the school resource officer aspect that's a pretty standard practice around Metro Atlanta right but we just can't confirm if they had one or not at the time and we understand that as these events happen in our community there is such a need and want for information but just also understand that first and foremost there is an investigation and police Have To Tread very carefully to protect the investigation that moves forward so trying to balance the sharing of information which is really critical to the people involved and the people impacted and for the Greater Community who is feeling this and experiencing this right along with them but also having to protect a certain level of information as well as they think about an investigation moving forward again they have shared one person is in custody and we're not certain if there are more that they are considering but we know that one person will be a key for information moving forward according to Northeast Georgia Medical Center their public information officer one patient has been transported to their facility in Barrow okay and one patient is in route to their facility in Gainesville that Gainesville location is the level one Trauma Center so we can now sort of uh put a place on the four injured we have one at Grady we have one patient at Barrow at their facility and then one patient is in route to the facility in Gainesville which is a level one trauma center now again it's four injured so we can surely account for the location of the three of the three but still not knowing the extent of the injuries here that information uh coming in from the Northeast Georgia Medical Center public information officer that's new information there but is significant that they chose to send two of these patients to level one Trauma Centers which are a great distance away so that is a key piece of information knowing that whatever they're dealing with they felt the need to send them to the two level one Trauma Centers closest but one is that Northeast Medical Center is still a 30 miles from the high school Grady is 40 mil from the high school but again if you're just joining us we did see the medical helicopters on scene they are the ones that would transport to those level one facilities so they can get the patients to the help as fast as possible and we do want to just let you guys know that this situation has gone all the way up to the White House all the way up to the FBI and so while we don't have any word on a suspect it is important to know that we have one suspect in custody but no details on who this person is age or anything of any of the people that have been injured here in this scenario and so there are still so many questions out there but we can say that the threat here appears to be over based on the body language we see another mother there getting their child from the school people have had to park those cars and just get out and walk they're calling their kids where can you meet me where can we go we see a student there with a shirt over his face not knowing what that young man have has experience but glad to see him uh with a loved one there I mean this is just absolutely gut-wrenching and just so hard to know I'm a mom I'm going call baby what these what these babies have experience and what they witness just the just seeing your your loved one for the first time the grandmother that Molly spoke to she was the grandma showing up the song was already with the mom but the whole village is showing up to show support to these kids and thinking about the ones who don't have anyone to come and get them either you read my mind that's it when I saw that that young man you know walking across the field with presumably his mom it's the first thing I thought of you know we we are bringing you this information as journalists but we are bringing you this information as parents and members of this community and I know everyone watching is feeling it feeling it today and uh it it does make an impact and so we just want to acknowledge that this this is difficult for the state and even people beyond the state watching and really thinking about those of you who know someone there and just um feeling that for you together and thinking about these these kids these High School freshman sophomore juniors and seniors who should be thinking about you know getting ready for a high school football game this weekend or taking a test and you know instead they're they're um finding out more about what happened inside their school and the loss of people that they know and care about and uh people in the hospital right now who are getting help and we and we hope we'll have full recoveries and then just the greater impact of of experiencing this whether you're physically harmed or not there is a toll that it takes on on everybody involved we continue to hear more and more from our our lawmakers and our legislators and our state and federal leaders uh it is worth reiterating that FBI is there on the scene they are helping coordinate because as you see this picture right here you're seeing law enforcement vehicles from you know a 50-m radius it's like all hands on deck everybody comes in in this moment and it is a coordinated effort to um get all of that in Motion in a way that is effective and protects the investigation and cares for the community moving forward and unfortunately a lot of those law enforcement protocols and procedures are in place because of school shootings that have happened in the years past where May that wasn't the case and there was confusion in these times and so those procedures put into place unfortunately you hope they never have to be used but when they are um hopefully they are effective to make a terrible situation just a little less chaotic for everybody involved there was just such a eagerness in a hustle of these people as they respond here to this school they've parked the car they've gotten out and they are trying to get to their children but just think about it there are two families here in this case that are not going to get the call from the loved one that they're waiting for two people are dead here four others are injured we have accounted for the location of at least three of the people who have been injured so far one has been taken to Grady one has been taken to Northeast Medical Center in Gainesville the level one Trauma Center another one has been taken to the location in Barrow and that sort of speaks to the level of injuries especially for the two who have gone there uh actually to get to the level one Trauma Centers in Grady there and in Gainesville both about an hour away from the school we can say that we saw two medical helicopters that arrive they on the scene uh in response here to this situation uh producers I want to see if you guys have our former law enforcement officer ready on Zoom is that ready can we confirm that that's one area that we cannot speak to we want to sort of get in the mind of law enforcement to say what's sort of the response here uh what are they doing we have fadus Johnson right now who is a criminology professor at State University and a former law enforcement officer out of Memphis Tennessee Mr Johnson thank you so much for being with us what can you sort of add to what we are seeing here as it relates to how law enforcement is trained to respond to these sort of incidents all right looks like we're still waiting to uh get Mr Johnson uh fully connected it looks like he's uh dialing in there producers are going to do a mic check with him to make sure that he he uh can indeed hear us Mr Johnson can you hear me absolutely I can hear you can you hear me yes thank you so much I was saying just as you're watching this picture live with us and seeing the law enforcement response from your time as a law enforcement officer in Memphis and now being a criminology professor at GSU what can you tell us about what we're seeing here with this response yes so with the response the one thing you have these types of situations uh it can be chotic U to the untrained eye it can look like a whole lot of confusion is going on but when you have these situations uh when the officers first arrive on the scene uh they're not there uh to look out for victims or to render first aid the top priority is to go in uh stop the threat and prevent the further loss of life or injury as soon as possible uh and you usually want see like squat or specialized units uh unless they made it to the scene first until after other officers General already entered uh you don't wait for for SWAT response um once the threat is actually neutralized U that's when you start seeing uh police render a uh they may secure this thing and bring in EMS uh as well uh one thing that's particularly funny about these situations particularly when you're inside a school building that can up the anti a little bit and so generally you'll see students coming out with their hands up and that's to show that they're not a threat uh and that allows officers to also do a visual scan or Frisk uh to see if they have any weapons any injuries or things of that nature because mind you officer not sure who's uh the culprit who are victims wants they get on scene and let someone is engaged in shooting or has been pointed out and so uh once the initial neut threat is neutralized stuff is still going on they're still investigating you'll start seeing officers and police departments usually you'll see multiple agencies uh Beyond fire MMS uh and so you'll see station areas where they have those who were Witnesses those who were potential who were victims uh they have them a certain area they have the media in a certain area and they also uh present a secure perimeter uh around the crime scene for a lack of better terms to keep citizens out and also not to contaminate the scene for the followup investigation so those are some of the things that uh you tend to see uh in these scenarios has been it has been such a tough time for law enforcement in our community we've had two Law Enforcement Officers to tragically die in the line of duty here in our area just over the last two weeks we had one who was uh shot and is recovering and so talk about the impact here for the law enforcement officers who are responding I'm sure many of them Mothers and Fathers as well I think it's totally different when you know you're responding and Children Are In Harm's Way yeah I I I think one thing that we should all be mindful of that compared to uh the type of shootings uh that we have in general Society uh this is a very small sub subset but you're so important that it hits the heart right it hits a little bit different again it UPS the anti and so even as officers you know officers see life and death situations all day they see people at the worst they see injuries uh they deal with a lot they carry a whole lot and the job itself is inherently dangerous because of all the unknowns uh we also know that most of our police officers don't receive the mental health care uh the physical care uh and the emotional care that's needed for this type of job yeah usually when you have these scenarios officers tend to deef uh uh about the situation but not necessarily about what they're experiencing and so it's so important that officers control those emotions when they're approaching these scenes because your emotions can't get the best of you you have to be tactically sound you have to prevent yourself from having auditor exclus and visual uh tunnel vision because lives are at stake and not only of the kids and the students in the staff and faculty but also your fellow officers you want to make sure that everyone gets out safely so law enforcement can be a heavy job and these types of situations are things that officers will carry them probably for the rest of their lives Mr thus Johnson thank you so much for joining us and just sort of allowing us to tap into the mind of law enforcement here in this scenario we will check back in with you soon now let's get to a press conference Happening Now Sheriff's Office we're standing on the campus of appalache high school here at bar County Schools first and foremost I want to lift up our community I want to give our sympathies to our community our school system our kids our parents that had to witness this today uh obviously what you see behind us uh is an evil thing today at about 9:30 this morning we received the first call that there was an active shooter in this on this campus we're not releasing any information as far as injuries but we have multiple injuries uh this is a very very fluid investigation it's very early and I have asked the assistance of the gbi and the agencies here behind me today and there are multiple agencies that responded this morning to help us and help the sheriff's office we do have a suspect in custody and we are asking for your patience as the media to please let us get the facts that we need to make sure we get this right again I've asked the gbi to help us the Sheriff's Office to help us along with this I know this is not what you want to hear but I'm not going to answer questions after this is over with but I wanted to give you the respect and our community respect to let them know what was going on initially we're in the process of reunifying our students with their parents obviously that's chaotic but we want to be respectful of them and their privacy as well I want to thank the state the federal agencies the local agencies that showed up today as you can see the multiple EMS and fire from other agencies that responded today again I ask that you lift up bar County Schools lift up appalache lift up our agencies this is going to take multiple days for us to get answers as to what happened and why this happened but I wanted to give you a statement it is our hope in conjunction with these people behind us that we can give you another statement around 4:00 cuz I know you have to go back on the air that is my hope but I wanted to be fluid with you all understanding that it's fluid as well with this investigation I appreciate you being patient with us again it's very active and is ever developing every minute it's developing on what we're finding so we're going to have releases from other schools again we ask that you be patient with us please be patient with us and hopefully I can give you more information or more better information as you will if you will this afternoon thank you all for coming out here we'll be back shortly okay sh has been wiely reported that people are dead is that true I'm not releasing any information we have multiple injuries can you say if the person in custody is an adult or or a juvenile I'm not releasing any information guys I'm not going to answer any more questions it's time okay thank you thank you all right there you have it a press conference there from the barl county sheriff giving us very limited information just really stretching that this is a fluid situation and that this is very active and ongoing he only reported that there were uh an active shooter call that came in around 9:30 this morning now the banner that you see on your screen with the two dead and four injured that is coming from NBC news they will not even answer questions about the number of people but he did confirm that there is one suspect in custody at the end you heard 11 alive Z Richards go ahead and try to get that question to see if the person address hopefully answer uh more questions for you okay or be in a position to give you more answers we'll just have to see how things we just realized this was Happ telling us how many people uh what you know about that we're not in any kind of position the sheriff made his comments uh we'll leave it at that by 4:00 we hope to have a better picture of bigger uh bigger so you can better comprehend what what's going on okay we really appreciate it thank thank you thank you the goal now just to get all of those children reunited there with their families and they do hope to give us another update around 400 p.m. as you know more information comes in and they feel more comfortable putting that information out there yeah and you can understand why they really want to make sure that they get the right information out and really make sure as you said that the priority Ms getting these parents reunited with their children getting some of these schools that are on lockdown including an elementary and middle school in the area uh getting them uh really back where they need to be in terms of safety and those parents as well we also want to mention that he did stress that this is still a fluid and active situation you can still see in that area a large number of police officers as he mentioned uh from both the gbi FBI and a number of local agencies there still looking for answers as to what happened we do not know those details as to exactly what happened why it happened but we do know when it happened it happened around 9:30 this morning we heard that's when the first uh calls came in to police about an active shooter again a lot of questions in terms of uh the perhaps a motive behind this or who was injured or who this suspect is again we don't know if this was a student at the school we don't know if it was an adult all we know that that suspect is now in custody and so right before we went to that press conference we got an update there from from the winder Police Department this is pretty important here uh if you think about going to this area you have a loved one in the community they say that they're working this scene here with the presence they're of course very heavy we talk about the high school and the middle school along with Winder Elementary so all the schools within the county are currently on lockdown with the officers on hand to keep those scenes contained they're going to communicate as soon as parents in the other schools can be paired with their children we know the students from appalache high school they have been given the clear to reunite with their families but you got to consider the entire district is on lockdown we're not even close to school release and so they're trying to figure out the best situation to get the other schools off lockdown and reuniting with parents because of the traffic situation all of these cars there this says please stay clear keep all the roadways open by not blocking entrances and roadways and school Lanes with your cars everything is contained at this time they're working with the staff to communicate all the next steps for the release as soon as possible again they want you to stay out of those emergency lanes and keep the entrances and exits clear so that law enforcement can come and go as this investigation keeps going so all the other schools are safe right now Jonathan and of course you know being a parent as well that's so hard when you hear something has happened at your child's school or even in the district iMed immediately you want to go you want to be there but again their their concern is that if everyone shows up to the Middle School the elementary school and of course the high school all at once that is going to impede what they're trying to do which is to make sure they can continue their investigation so again if you are a parent the key worth there is that everything has been contained they believe that everything is safe this suspect is now in custody and there is no immediate threat to that area but understandably parents still want to be there uh and reunited he as he said in that news conference that is one of their goals in their priorities right now I'm on social media right now on Instagram live we're seeing people uh comment from Riverdale we're seeing someone saying Phoenix Arizona is carrying um 11 alive right now as we are giving this information so there is outpouring of support and love coming from everywhere but just in case let's go ahead and set up sort of the boundaries and where we are a lot of people think Georgia you automatically think Atlanta no this is happening about 45 minutes Northeast of the city and so producers have sort of put together a app for you so that we can give you perspective on where all of this is happening even in regards to the Trauma Centers where two of those patients were taken you see appalache high school there in Barrow and then you see Atlanta and so we're talking about at least a 45 minute to an hour drive away from the city where we are following this situation here as it relates to Northeast Georgia Medical Center and Grady unfortunately both of those locations were about an hour in the opposite direction to get those injured people to those level one Trauma Centers one person brought to Atlanta to Grady another person stayed there in the county and went to that one uh in Gainesville and then one other person was able to go to the smaller Hospital in Barrow we have not gotten worked on where the fourth injured person has gone again these numbers coming from NBC News two dead and four injured there in the shooting and Aisha we have a number of reporters of course there near the high school and at the hospital we want to get right out now live to 11 the lives Molly Oak Molly what can you tell us what's the update well you know Jonathan when I was talking with Aisha and Cheryl earlier we talked about how this isn't only affecting the people right here inside of the school but really the entire community and I want to speak to that as I step aside so you get a closer look we are now right across the street from the school you're seeing that law enforcement presence but we talk about the community response I talked with a woman now her child does not go to this school but her neighbor neighbor's child does that neighbor calls her says I'm an hour away there's been a shooting at my son's school how quickly can you get there that neighbor gets here as quickly as they can they have to park their car ditch the car walk 2 and 1/2 miles just to lay some eyes on her senior now that senior is okay but he did tell her some information he said that he was in the 10th grade hallway that's where his classroom was when the shooting happened he said he was in the classroom right across from the other classroom and in that classroom is where the shooting was happening now when that woman came to try to pick him up she said she was only able to talk with him for a little bit and see him to physically know that he is okay but she says he actually has to stick here on the football field we told you earlier that they moved those students onto the football field now she's telling me any students who saw or heard anything are now getting interviewed by the gbi which could take hours so she said she was heading out when we spoke with her again just lots of hugs and compassion coming from the community knowing that the kid was okay but she said the mom's about 5 minutes away to come and just wait on him to be done but again gbi we're being told is interviewing students on the football field who may have heard or seen anything also talking to a parent and a grandmother just now who are actually trying to pick up their 8-year-old who goes to the school down the street she says they are also on lockdown so she's not even sure if she'll be able to get to her baby but she says again that sentiment of not just hearing that your child is okay but physically being able to see them to touch them and hold them that is really what the feeling of emotion is out here right now Aisha and Jonathan but again we cannot express just the mass amount of law enforcement and again it's not just here in the county gbi telling us earlier it is local state federal we are seeing police and sheriffs from all over I mean just across from me I see Henry County Sheriff I see city of monrow police Monroe police excuse me I see Walton County fire rescue so this is a state investigation GSP passing through as well as gbi continues this investigation we did get that small update date a little bit ago from that press conference hoping to hear more from the sheriff's office here as well but for now we're going to toss it back to you but again just a lot of law enforcement and a lot of parents here on scene just wanting to give their kids a hug and know that they're okay yeah you can understand that Molly Oak live for us thank you so much one of the things that stood out that Molly said is that some of these students we got to remember they witnessed this they were in the classroom that student that Molly spoke to or at least the the guardian said that they heard the gunfire from the 10th grade hallway they could see people panicking so for some of these students they saw this they heard this firsthand just such a tragedy here in a video a few minutes ago Jonathan we saw one of the students walking away just sort of holding his face t-shirt over his face as he was walking away with the loved one that he was finally reunited with he just looked just beside himself just kind of considering what they witnessed what they heard and just you know for years to come just thinking about this day 11 lives Doug Richard standing by there on the ground Doug you were at that press conference there with the sherff sh I heard your question there at the end trying to see if this suspect was a student or an adult they're pretty tight lipped but understandably so here with just how evolving this situation is but what can you tell us right now uh truthfully not a lot more than what you heard at the press conference uh except to say that um we're standing on the grounds of a high school that is obviously in a very unusual condition um there are hundreds of people on foot uh between here and the mile and a half or so we walk to get here uh going back and forth folks who uh were coming on foot to investigate the status of their students in the school um one lady who uh said that she came here actually saw the student but was unable to leave the student uh with leave with the student because uh the gbi was uh poised to investigate uh that student and so as a result was unable to leave but at least had gotten the assurance that the child was okay and there's a lot of that it appears going on here where adults are showing up uh getting an assurance that um their child was not among those harmed or among uh those folks who who may be still in any kind of danger and the indication is that the danger is PED um nonetheless obviously there are uh scores if not hundreds of law enforcement folks here uh who are making sure that that's the case assisting in the ongoing investigation um and uh trying to wrap this thing up there sounded pretty confident that there was going to be able to be a release of further information at 4:00 which is 2 and a half hours from now um and um so they seem confident that that a lot of the investigative uh details that they need to have that they can release uh will be wrapped up uh in that relatively short period of time uh in law enforcement uh clocks uh not you know some of us may be impatient um but obviously as you said they want to get it right uh and they want to make sure that they don't want to have to backtrack on any information that is released initially um just because it can turn into bad look both in court uh as well as you know in the public sphere so um that's where we are now at uh at the high school uh where we are still seeing parents and still seeing lots of law enforcement and have had an assurance that uh the investigation is in a place uh where it's advancing as it should do back to you all right Doug Richards there thank you so much uh looking forward to uh that press conference there at 4:00 if they were able to give information let's sort of reset I got 11 in lives Jonathan Martin in with me now Jennifer Bellamy standing by to tap out to uh go into our afternoon shift you're looking at video from earlier from the 11 alive Sky tracker that was over the scene very early on here as Law Enforcement Officers got 1,00 kids enrolled at appalache high school to safety out of the building there to the football field that was a safety location as they worked to secure the perimeter to secure the building as you saw those Crews responding there what we know is this call came in around 9:30 that was a latest time that we got from the sheriff initially we were told 10:23 that first call came in regardless it was early in the day as students were even before the lunch hour caus of shots fir from appalache high school they got to the scene and discovered the shooting had indeed taken place results that we got about 2 and 1/2 hours later here Jonathan was that two people were dead and four were injured and that came from NBC news but as we saw in that press conference the sheriff was very slow to put a number to anything including ages of that person who was in custody any of that so they're walking a real thin line with what they are releasing here absolutely saying that he is not giving any details right now on injuries just calling the situation still fluid and the investigation early but again he reiterated for anyone wondering one suspect now in custody and they do say that they have the situation contained so again this is some video you're looking at from earlier when the scene there was very much more active there at appalache high school really the priority now as we heard from law enforcement is to make sure that parents as many as they can can be reunited with their students you can understand understand this is such a um emergent uh shocking situation for a lot of parents they just want to be there perhaps to just see their kids in person hug them um but obviously there's an concern with getting parents connected in terms of traffic they have encouraged parents uh from the middle school and elementary school not to block the roadways uh they're going to give more information soon on when those students from the other schools nearby that are on lockdown can be released and again as Aisha said we are expecting another news conference around the 4:00 hour could be sooner could come later but that's when we expect the next update from police but again right now from MB see they're reporting two people dead four injured in the shooting again we do not know the extent of the injuries we do not know details on the suspect if it was a perhaps a student at the school an adult a juvenile we just don't know I'm joined Now by 11 to live evening anchor Jennifer Bellamy who will be joining us as we continue our coverage uh and Jennifer this all unfolded today around 9:30 that's when those first calls came into police police responded around 10 or so and realized that this indeed was an active shoo and and a really serious situation and really such a scary situation for these families as they started to get that messaging from those students there on campus and also for family members of anyone who has a loved one who is a part of this appalachi High School family whether they're a teacher or uh working there on the staff in some other capacity so this is the the information the call the text messages that nobody ever wants to hear uh but again that is unfolding right now out of Barrow County right now while you are looking at images from our 11 live Sky tracker that we have been getting for you throughout the morning as the situation has unfolded and we're continuing to work all of our sources to get you more information again we know from NBC news reporting right now two Dead four injured in a shooting there at appalache High School in burrow County and a large police presence Jennifer there of course as you might expect we have seen agencies including the gbi uh members of the FBI multiple local agencies and some from Atlanta there in this County as a part of this investigation and as we heard from law enforcement during the update just about 20 minutes ago they are still very much in the early stages of figuring out what happened one of the things they're doing right now is interviewing some of those students as we heard from our Molly Oak who was there she spoke with the guardian of one of those students who said that he heard the gunfire in the 10th grade hallway some students perhaps witnessed this uh by hearing it or seeing it firsthand so so they're interviewing a lot of those students while other students have been reunited with their parents and are allowed to leave for the day and you talked about how early this is in this investigation so early in fact that the sheriff did not want to give many details at this hour uh when he addressed the media about this situation he did say that he hoped to come back at about 4:00 so in just a couple hours from now we hope that we will hear from the sheriff and get more information about what is going on we understand from the Burl County Sheriff's Office that one suspect is in custody it's not clear right now if there's anybody else or how else this investigation is unfolding often times in these situations law enforcement will go visit the home of a suspect and they'll look in other aspects of that life with their family as well and so we will be uh following this investigation for you over the next couple of days and weeks and months even as law enforcement continued to piece together everything that happened here and try to answer the question of why and Jennifer we just got uh just a heartbreaking update our producers in our ear saying that CNN now reporting against CNN reporting four dead approximately 30 injured again that is coming from CNN which is of course a greater number uh than what we had heard originally from NBC uh reporting just heartbreaking when you see that knowing how many people how many families affected by what happened there today we did know that the sheriff was very um tight lip tight lip very slow to really give any numbers he knew that there was various reporting out there and perhaps this is why because they knew that um this perhaps was much worse than anyone originally thought yeah and again this is an unfolding situation when you talk about people who are injured in a situation like this you just don't know what injured means it could be uh something very minor and it could be something extremely serious and we are talking about at least one person we know being transported all the way out from Barrel County to Grady Memorial Hospital here in the city of Atlanta when you hear about something like that you know that it's very serious for them to be transported such a distance um for medical uh treatment and attention and so again we are hoping that these numbers do not continue to shift anymore with this new information CNN reporting for dead about 30 injured so far and you just think about how many people how many families impacted by this so many students there some 1900 students to attend this high school if you're unfamiliar with this area this is about I believe about 45 miles 45 minutes or so outside of the Atlanta area but still affecting so many people uh in that community and Beyond we know Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens has been informed he has uh really reinforced security at some of Atlanta Public Schools just because again when things like this happen it really affects our whole Community uh and Beyond we know Governor Brian Kemp has also pledged any resources uh pushed all resources necessary to that area and this even making it all the way to the White House with the president being briefed on what's happened as well and you talk about this situation and the ripple effect we know that there will be a Major Impact to this community but it does have a ripple for all of the students across Georgia and Across the Nation you mentioned the president being briefed on the situation it does have that ripple effect and I'm sure there are other school districts across Metro Atlanta that are also increasing their security as the school day is coming closer to an end for so many other students across across Metro Atlanta right now these are images that you seeing we uh took from our 11 life Sky tracker and the ground from earlier in the day and we know that those students were taken out to safety to that football field that's what you were seeing just a short time ago on your screens and we understand that that was a location that was deemed safe for those students and again we understand uh that they are working on reuniting parents and Guardians with their students at this point um but again that is going to be a lengthy and difficult process for them to undertake to make sure that these parents and students are reunited and that these students are able to make it home safely yeah and you know I think when a lot of people were watching this unfold you saw just a number of ambulances there on the grounds of the school you saw some of the helicopters taking at least a couple people away by LifeLight and you had the feeling that this may be worse uh than again we first thought again CNN right now reporting four dead approximately 30 injury injured uh we don't know the extent of those injuries but again and unfortunately this is turning out to be a lot more serious of a situation than we thought right now again some of those schools are on lockdown you can see our mly o in this picture she is there among our reporters along with Doug Richards and others who are gathering information and talking to parents and students and law enforcement as much as we can at this point and unfortunately we talk now about students having to practice for situations like this at school uh it used to be a time when you practiced for hurricanes and you practiced for tornadoes but practicing for a mass shooting or an intruder on campus is something that is a reality for our students unfortunately nowadays and this is actually unfolding for them and this is something that will uh unfortunately change their lives uh for the for as long as they live and this is something that we are unfortunately having to deal with so many times we do hear about different incidents and situations happening on our school campuses and fortunately for the most part some of them do not amount to what we are seeing happen today but again this newest information this reporting from CNN now saying four dead approximately 30 injured those numbers have increased from NBC's reporting earlier this afternoon that two were dead and four injured that's right and just just heartbreaking when you think about the number of people impacted by what's happened today you're taking a live look near there near the area where you can see just a number of people now leaving the school leaving the school heartbroken leaving the school without answers uh some of them not knowing if their friends their loved ones their classmates were impacted by this yeah we're going to go live now to our Molly Oak who is out there on the ground she's been out there for some time speaking with family members and and Molly this is really just a difficult situation for anyone showing up there with their their heart in their throat wondering what is going on and [Music] why my first time that I checked in with you all that the only thing that Rivals the amount of law enforcement here on scene is just the amount of loved ones that are trying to get there I want to step aside so you can see a helicopter uh air evacuation life team it looks like it says on the side is lifting off here on from the scene again as we work to figure out more details of all that's happening here the gbi has told us that this is not only a local investigation but also federal and state investigation I want to go back to what I was saying earlier though just am the amount of parents we've seen we've had people uh neighbors friends of family family members tell us that they parked their car had to walk 2 miles 3 miles just to get to the school just to try to lay some eyes on their loved ones to know that they're okay I mean just off camera I can't tell you the amount of hugs I've shared with people when they've told me that they found out that their child is okay that their grandchild is okay that their neighbor's child is okay so when you talk about the impact that this type of event has on not only a school but also just the community we've seen neighbors stepping in because they may be 30 minutes closer than a parent to come and rush over here just to make sure that their friend's child is okay now again when we talk about the kids they are on the football field right now that's what parents are telling me that the kids were moved over to the football field for safety and also just to be spoken to one parent tells me that one of the kids he was a senior said he was in at the 10th grade hallway though that's where his classroom happened to be said his classroom was across the hall from a classroom where the shooting happened she says that while she was able to see him and talk with him for a little bit make sure he was okay physically she said mentally he's pretty shaken up but she did say that he heard that gunfire and she said now the gbi is interviewing students so may be a couple of hours before parents can physically take those students and then bring them home to safety which is a different level of safety than being at a school where something like this just happened it's to have that kid home with you and in your arms that's a sentiment that we're hearing over and over again not just to hear your child being safe but also being able to physically see them and hold them we want to get to some sound from people to better describe what's been happening out here because he was his 12th grade class is on a 10th grade Hall he can't be released until gbi interviews everyone tell me why that is um because they want to know what you heard what you may saw um how you felt um just that you said his classroom was right across yeah his yeah he actually heard the the shooting he's he's like they're shooting they're shooting right across from my classroom and his mom is in route she's like 5 minutes away okay so I just wanted to put eyes on him to see that he was okay and um he knows that he's safe and God God God got him I can't imagine what she's going through trying to get here in traffic to put eyes on her son you know with the people that I've spoken to they've been trying to hold it together and you can tell they're trying to keep that strength because there's just so much going on you can see in their eyes you can see in their hands that they are physically shaken up whether it is their son their daughter their grandson their granddaughter their friend their neighbor's kid that they may have met once or twice this is an emotional time out here and you're really seeing the entire Community pulled together you're seeing the community pull together you're seeing law enforcement from multiple agencies pulled together again we're talking local state and federal I mean just standing here we're seeing Henry County Sheriff's Office I'm seeing city of monoe police I'm seeing Walton County fire rescue I'm seeing gbi we're seeing GSP I see gwet County Sheriff has set up a Command Center so there's just sheriff police law enforcement from counties across the state coming in to help and try to hold this community together during so much Devastation guys and you can understand why Molly Oak live Force there talking with parents um talking with a neighbor of one of the students who heard what happened uh she mentioned in the 10th grade hallway uh that student among many right now who are still at the school being interviewed by the gbi uh asking what they heard what they saw you can see from this shot from earlier just a year number of students I believe the school is home to some 1,900 students many of them have now gone home with their parents or been allowed to leave others again staying behind as this investigation we know is still very much fluid and active and these are the stories that we're starting to hear now earlier in the day I was watching our coverage from home and I heard uh another loved one that Molly spoke with saying that uh one student was near the principal and the principal just told them to run and don't look back that is something that is unimaginable to hear that your student had to be told that your student heard gunshots across the hall and uh we know right now that as you would imagine so many family and friends are working to get to that school Molly telling us just now that people are walking for miles to make it to the school to reach their young students here at this high school and that is something that will continue on through the evening as law enforcement and school officials are working to reunite family members we see a lot of people trying to stand in the Gap here for other family members grandparents friends neighbors uh just trying to locate and track students for other parents who are still in process of trying to get out there and so even in the midst of this we do see so many aspects of the community coming together along with so many various municipalities and law enforcement agencies coming together to try and help aid in the response to this shooting again if you were just joining us you may have noticed that the situation appears to have gotten a lot worse a lot more serious with four dead now being reported by CNN according to law enforcement they've spoken with and approximately 30 injured again as Jennifer pointed out we don't know if those injuries are related to gunshot wounds but we know at least a couple of them are according to what we've been hearing at least uh one or two of those have been taken by lifik to Grady hospital where they are being treated we get again we don't know again the extent of all of the injuries and uh as far as the suspect CNN reporting that the student this person rather is of student age we don't know if that is a student at the school uh but apparently a young person according to CNN is a suspect that they have in custody and again there are so many questions left unanswered at this hour we did hear from the sheriff not too long ago but uh as this investigation is unfolding we did not get many answers the sheriff not taking questions at that point we do expect to hear from the sheriff later on this afternoon possibly around 4:00 and hopefully at that point we can get some more information some more details about what unfolded here who is among those who are dead and injured and what we know so far about the suspect who the Sheriff's Office says is now in custody uh Jonathan we were talking about the injuries and how it's hard to know without concrete information what those injuries include but we know that right now there's going to be a lot of mental health situations that need to be addressed as well with these students dealing with such a thing happening in their early lives and seeing this happen to possibly other students teachers and staff members at the school people that they know and uh potentially saw every day this is going to uh take a lot of work and support for this entire Community uh to move forward yeah as you mentioned Jennifer you know students prepare for things like this these days unfortunately it is part of going to middle school high school even as Cheryl pointed out sometimes earlier even in elementary and even preschool you prepare for these types of drills but you hope that you never have to actually live this out you ever have to be in these situations and so for many of the students we saw them living this out today running from gunfire hearing gunfire uh and this is what we saw unfold today at this school for these, 1900 students in the middle of what everyone described who witnessed it as a chaotic scene yeah and this story having far-reaching effects Beyond just this Barrow County Community Beyond just Metro Atlanta beyond the state of Georgia we have heard that President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation and we're hearing now from us attorney general Merrick Garland let's listen to some of what he had to say but before we begin I want to address the tragic shooting that occurred this morning at a high school in Winder Georgia we are still gathering information but the FBI and ATF are on the scene working with State local and federal Partners I'm devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy the justice department stands ready to provide any resources or support that the winder Community needs in the days ahead and that was us attorney general Merrick Garin offering some remarks following this deadly shooting at appalache high school again this information coming from CNN at this hour that four people have been killed and or four people are dead and that about 30 have been injured as a result of whatever unfolded out here at appalache high school we have heard from gry hospital earlier at least that one person was being treated there with a gunshot wound um but again we have not received many details from the sheriff's office regarding exactly what happened and how yeah and if there is any positive news at this hour it is that the suspect is now in custody and police have said and they have reiterated that the situation is now contained we do know still a number of schools in the area including the Elementary School and Middle School uh are on lockdown at last check we are waiting an update from police they did say at least the sheriff said that they would uh be working to get those schools off lockdown and those parents allowed to come pick up their students we are expecting another update an official update from the sheriff around 4:00 this afternoon but as of last check there are still a number of schools on lockdown as they continue investigating and continue to have this large police presence around uh the high school there so as this investigation is in very early stages for law enforcement out there in Barrow County we also know that a big undertaking underway right now is reuniting parents and students and as Jonathan just mentioned this isn't just at aalach high school this is at other surrounding schools in barl County as well also placed on lockdown parents working to get to those students as well at this hour and so that is something that we are working to get more details on as soon as we have more information we'll of course continue to pass that information along to you any updates about this process that we learn we will be sharing with you guys on air and online you can also find more details always As We are continuing to follow this on our website 11alive.com and inside our 11 Al lives news app because this is uh an ongoing situation and we're continuing to get new information in Moment by moment that's right and we expect again more information to come shortly you're looking right now at some video that we shot earlier and you can really just see the large incredible police presence that was there as I mentioned earlier we started to see more and more uh law enforcement more and more uh medical staff ambulances even some medical helicopters showing up on the scene giving us a sense of just how sit serious the situation was and as we have learned within the last 20 minutes or so it appears the number of those who have died and the number of those injured has gone up significantly uh from just what we knew earlier this morning and you talked about that medical helicopter we even saw one live when Molly was reporting just a short time ago still arriving out there at appalachi high school and so this is a situation that while police state is contained it is still ongoing still taking place we know law enforcement uh are still out there on the ground going through this situation and this investigation piece by piece um because this is something that everyone in that Community will no doubt want to be done uh precisely um you don't want any mistakes and so we know that they will be going through this uh high school and whatever other outside and surrounding information they they need to with meticulous care to make sure that this situation is something that they can answer questions for so many families really wondering why and what happened and what can be done to make sure that this doesn't happen again and a lot of those answers will of course come from students in terms of what happened where it happened and perhaps even why if there was some sort of fight or motive or something that may have led to the gunfire today we did hear from oural Oak according to a neighbor of one of those students that she spoke to uh who was in the 10th grade hallway at least in one of the classrooms along that hallway who heard the gunfire uh and that person that student is now being interviewed by the gbi perhaps the closest eyes and ears to what unfolded today and that is a process that is still ongoing we've talked about some of the uh reunification that has been going on out there on campus with family and students but again we are hearing from some parents and family members and loved ones out there on the ground that some of these students are indeed being held back in order to speak with law enforcement investigators including members from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to share their accounts of what they saw and what they heard today as this situation unfolded at appalache high school so that is just one piece of the investigation that will help law enforcement as they move forward again just to reiterate if you are joining us within a short time ago uh we are looking at this scene from appalache high school in in Barrow County which is a a school right here this High School of about 1,00 students about an hour or so outside of Atlanta uh but as I mentioned you have seen law enforcement come from all over uh really not just the Atlanta area but beyond law enforcement and state officials as the governor mentioned earlier he is directing all necessary and available St resources to the school to respond especially considering how serious of a situation we know this is grown to be so you uh no doubt are seeing a lot of law enforcement there uh from all across our state and Jonathan you mentioned that this is about an hour or so away from Atlanta yet and still we are learning that Atlanta public schools are adding extra security doing extra work to make sure that their families have a little bit of Peace of Mind as this situation unfolds in our Metro Atlanta Community and so that's something that we are likely seeing uh across the state as this unfolds and we know so many things that happen to one of us happen to all of us and so we are um certain that these other school districts are uh keeping Barrow County schools in their thoughts and prayers and reaching out to assist in whatever manners they can uh as well with this process that's going to be ongoing for the district handling this situation in the days weeks and months ahead and when you hear about these types of calls and we do often sometimes in in our business and you all do as viewers you hear about active Shooters you hear about lockdowns and you just hope and you pray that this is not the case Unfortunately today when we heard from law enforcement after they got to the school around 10:00 this morning they realized this was a very serious situation this was an active shooter and as we're learning uh within the last 30 minutes or so this was perhaps bigger and and more dire of a situation than any of us thought uh just looking at this earlier and I think from the coverage that we had earlier in the the afternoon or earlier in the morning I think there were signals that this could potentially be even worse than people uh would hope or imagine just by the sheer volume of law enforcement response that we saw out there on the ground and when you hear the the words hard lockdown we hear different levels of lockdowns with schools whether it is uh police activity nearby schools may go on lockdown just for safety but when you hear a hard lock down that is something that automatically triggers something in you that you know this is a very serious situation uh earlier in the day NBC News reported that two people were dead and four injured but again now at this hour in CNN news is reporting four dead and about 30 injured so this information is continuing to develop an update uh we did hear from the sheriff not too long ago uh the sheriff keeping a lot of information close to the vest at this point not sharing many details s uh including information about those who may have died and those who uh were injured again we are hoping and expecting to hear from the sheriff once again maybe around 4:00 and um he said that he hopes that he may be able to share more concrete information at that point our Molly o is still there at the school uh she's been there for hours now Molly we know when this all started to unfold this afternoon there was a heavy heavy police presence a lot of those students were still on campus waiting to be reunited with their parents can you describe where things are right now are we still seeing the large presence in terms of students and law enforcement yeah Jonathan I'm actually going to stay off camera while I speak with you all just so you see this scene we are directly across the street from the school and typically when we have breaking news like this we see a really heavy police presence when we first get here and we arrived hours ago and then that starts to dwindle it has not dwindled a bit if anything we've seen more law enforcement show up even when the photographer and I were driving here we passed probably about a dozen police officers law enforcement passed us on their way to the school that has continued to happen the only thing that we've seen maybe moving in and out fluidly we've seen a couple of helicopters since we first got here but we are talking about multiple agencies the gbi telling us that this is local state and federal all part of this investigation I have seen police and Sheriff's offices from multiple counties here along with gbi and FBI die as well so we know this is a mass investigation and we've said this before I'm going to say it again not only do we have a ton of law enforcement here but the one thing that is competing with that right now with the amount is the amount of loved ones that are showing up on scene now we have seen significantly less since we've been here probably in the past 30 minutes or so when we first arrived here we saw people basically just parking their cars wherever they could find a spot grabbing their stuff and just walking I talked with one woman who said she parked and walked to and half miles just to try to lay some eyes on her neighbor's child because that neighbor was about an hour away we've talked with grandparents parents loved ones again neighbors so this is really impacting the entire Community out here Jonathan our M yoke live for us thank you so much for giving us an update as Molly said this is really what it has looked like for the last 3 or 4 hours as police have again reiterated that this is still very much early in fact the sheriff said it may take several days for them to get to the bottom of the initial answers as to what happened here that's right and in our speaking with Molly you know we have been hearing different stories from family members and loved ones out there on campus uh that neighbor that you heard Molly speak of saying that the student she was there to just check on to lay eyes on being interviewed along with so many others right now by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and that is just a piece of this investigation that will take days or weeks or months um for law enforcement to shore everything together to answer all of these questions to dot all these eyes and cross all these tees to get answers for the community about what took place here today and again the priority right now according to the sheriff of course uh getting some of these parents uh who are at these schools waiting uh waiting in traffic perhaps to get reunited with their students getting them uh reunited that I mean as a parent you just obviously know that that is priority you want to make sure that your child is okay but as we're hearing some 30 injured you would assume that a good number of those are students we don't know the breakdown of student staff teachers but again everyone in that school perhaps knows someone who might have been affected by this this is not a huge School 1900 students which is of course a big high school but uh you would imagine that everyone perhaps knows someone who might have been affected by this yeah and when we talk about checking on your loved one hearing from a a text message or uh getting a phone call certainly doesn't feel like like enough in a situation like this people want to see and hug and hold their loved ones following something like this and um unfortunately uh according to reporting that we are learning today some people will not be able to do that tonight uh CNN reporting four dead about 30 injured um and again these are numbers that we're continuing to watch because they have shifted some uh during the day and we are working to get more concrete information uh more detail for you uh but again we are thinking that we may not get any information from the sheriff's office again until the 4:00 hour um that's about 3 hours from now as we're approaching well maybe two 2 hours from now as we're approaching 2:00 here and so again we will be following that we have several Crews on the ground across Metro Atlanta working this story to get you answers because so many people are really just asking so many questions why and how and um those are the things that law enforce are working together you see right here images from earlier in the day the students that were out there on that football field uh you know such a stark contrast from what they were likely seeing and experiencing not too long ago the school year just starting just finishing up the Labor Day holiday football back in action and this is such a stark contrast from what these students were probably so excited about on campus living their lives and now this has happened and it's really um an event that really truly changes you and Shakes You Yeah it it really does and you're right I mean you look at the football field students they should be getting ready for a Friday night football game they should be getting ready for a test perhaps but they are in the middle of just a chaotic emerging situation uh that has really dealt a huge blow not only to this school but this entire Community as we know every school in the district at least at some point today was on lockdown because of this we heard from Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens not too long ago in a statement saying saying that he has bolstered security at a number of Atlanta Public Schools and also offering to send any of Atlanta's resources that way as well knowing that when something like this happens it no doubt affects the school and the surrounding Community but as a parent as uh you know a student anywhere you you were affected by this uh especially when it happens within your metro area uh in particular and we talked to so much about the injuries and how it's impossible at this point to know without um concrete information from law enforcement what those injury levels are but I can't help but continue to go back to the mental health aspect for these students some of them already reporting from family members and friends with our Molly Oak that they heard the gunshots across the hall some of these students may never have even heard gunshots before and this is something that will be etched in their brains uh for the rest of their lives now and so we are certainly thinking of these students and sending them our strength and support because this is something that is going to be uh dealt with as an ongoing issue for the remainder of the school year and for the remainder of their lives as these students try to figure out how to move forward as well as the the staff and the teachers and the administrators there um you know your school family is your family you're with these people day in and day out for months on end and in a community like Winder you get to know each other you know that that your neighbors everyone knows each other and it's unimaginable um as you mentioned that so many people there will have some sort of connection uh to what unfolded today and you wonder if perhaps the person that you um had class with or that you know well or a teacher is effective by this because at this point we have not had any confirmation of the ages or the names uh or grade levels of any of the people who've been impacted so for a lot of these students who are leaving today they are left with just so many questions left with heartbreak but again a lot of questions wondering if perhaps their friend someone they care about someone they love one of their teachers is one of those impacted and perhaps even um dead from this tragedy yeah and it's hard to say at this point because we heard from one of the uh neighbors of a student that this may have taken place on the 10th grade hallway but that student was a senior and so it's even impossible with the limited information that we are getting on the ground to know who all may have been impacted uh we don't know if there were staff members teachers students we don't know the ratios of who may have been impacted here so again hopefully that is information that we will uh be able to bring to you uh in the next 2 hours or so when we hear from the Sheriff's Office once again uh but again as we talk about this this situation we know that this investigation is going to take quite some time this isn't something that we're going to get all of the answers that we are looking for uh today or even tomorrow as we we know that the Barrow County Sheriff's Office is being joined by other local state and federal Partners uh to investigate and try to piece together what happened in that next update Jennifer as we've been telling people in case you were just joining us according to the sheriff he says we are going to try to get you another update at 4:00 he didn't promise that that would happen uh but that's when they're hoping to get another update he knows that you all want answers and of course media we have our newscast at 4:00 uh and so hoping to get the the information out to you but what we know so far again in case you were just tuning in this all started around 9:30 this morning that's when the first calls according to police came they arrived on the scene shortly thereafter uh realizing that this was an active shooter situation uh and we saw police surrounding the school and agency showing up from around the school uh we do know one suspect now in custody and according to CNN uh they are now reporting four dead and approximately 30 injured we know at least one of those injured uh was taken by Medical helicopter or LifeLight to Grady hospital which is a level one Trauma Center so that would lead you to believe that this was a serious injury obviously um but we get we again don't know the extent of that injury all right we want to get back out to some sound that our uh Doug Richards has been Gathering speaking with uh family members and students out there on the ground and we understand this uh information comes from a 10th grader who heard what went on today let's take a listen um it was just like a loud boom as if a locker had slammed so my teacher thought it was just like some kid acting foolish so then she took a peek outside and then we heard repeatedly the banging again and that's when we could identify it was a gun and then the hard lock down was placed and then we ran to the back of the classroom turn off the lights I was shaking scared and I didn't have my phone on me and I couldn't communicate with my mom for a half an hour and I I didn't know what was going to happen cuz you could hear the gun fires right down the hall so I don't know if it was like the last chance I had to talk with her but luckily I'm here and you were just listening to a 10th grader at appalache high school speaking about his experience today when that gunfire rang out in the school saying it sounded like a locker being banged shot and uh they thought it was a one-off initially until the sound continued and then they uh immediately went into those procedures that they practi is about how to respond if a shooting happened running to the back of the classroom turning off the lights a poor student saying he he didn't even have a cell phone on him so he couldn't reach his mother and uh if you were looking at that screen you could just tell the anguish that that mother had um even despite the joy of seeing her son right now and holding him they were just holding on to each other even as he spoke about what happened you could really feel it through the screen just looking at that image and he told his story um again turning off the lights sort of hiding in place waiting for this to all uh be over we also heard from other students that they ran they heard the gunfire they heard something happening and they ran um you know when you're trained in these sorts of drills there's different scenarios and different ways that you handle this sometimes the best situation is to SL you know lock the door and to hide in place other times is to get away from the threat and so some of these students doing what they were taught um trying to get away from what was happening but it is just harrowing it is just heartbreaking hearing that directly from a student who witnessed this just hours ago I know and and unfortunately we will hear more and more stories like this as the days continue to uh move forward along with this investigation but similar stories that we heard from another uh woman who was checking on her neighbor's son that he was in that 10th grade hallway and heard the gunshots ringing out across from that classroom and so we are starting to hear some similar stories out there of students taking cover as those gunshots rang out right it it just really is it's just hard to imagine going through that as a lot of these students you prepare for these things you hope that you never have to actually do it uh in real time and in real life when a situation like this is unfolding you're taking a look from uh above of our Sky tracker this was earlier uh shortly after this happened when a lot of the students were released out onto the football field a lot of them at that point didn't know exactly what was going on you can see see if you look lower in the picture I believe that's a stretcher one of many that we saw there on the scene uh we saw several people uh several students uh being taken away we don't know again the extent of the injuries but we know there were a number of students taken away by ambulance and by helicopter uh to be treated and as of last reporting CNN reporting uh 30 injured uh at this point four dead and that's a number that has shifted uh as we have continued to follow this story for you today earlier in the day NBC News reported two dead and four injured but again that number has increased to what CNN is reporting now was four dead and 30 injured uh as you are looking at your screen these are images from earlier in the day and you can just see the sheer volume of law enforcement that responded out here to appalachi high school early today as this reports of what was reported to be a gunshot uh started to come in starting around 9:30 those first calls today uh we saw countless numbers of law enforcement Vehicles we now know that they are not just from that immediate area but from all across Metro Atlanta including state and federal Partners as well responding to this high school as this situation has continued to unfold and as this investigation is uh getting underway and continuing we do know from the sheriff's office that one suspect is in custody but there has not been any uh information from the Sheriff's Office on who that suspect is whether it's a student a teacher uh we don't have information from the sheriff's office at least about any particular descriptors of who that person is an age uh a reason uh for their connection to the school if there even was one so those are just some of the questions that still remain at this hour that we are hoping to get for you uh again we are hoping that we may hear from the sheriff again around 4:00 um again that is something we will bring to you uh both on air and online as soon as we get the word that we were hear that we will hear from the sheriff if and and when that does happen again and Jennifer you're absolutely correct we don't have much information at this hour on the suspect other than that person is in custody according to the sheriff Now CNN is reporting According to some of their law enforcement sources that that suspect is of student age that's how they described them but not again saying whether they were or are a student at the school or have any connection to the school but at this point we do know uh that that young person according to uh CNN is in custody and we see our Molly oga standing by she is getting ready for another live report just to kind of let us know what she is hearing and seeing out there on the ground at appalachi high school Molly are you ready hey guys so we've talked about the amount of law enforcement out here we've talked about the amount of parents out here well now we're seeing students St and talking with them as well I just talked with one kid he's a 10th grade student he told me he heard the gunfire I'm going to step aside cuz we are right across from the high school so you can again see just all the amount of law enforcement that's here gnet County even passing me now so again local state and federal all here today but that 10th grader telling me that he started hearing gunshots his teacher told them to get down and get in the corner he recounted that he was just about to go to the bathroom and the words he told me were I thought I was going to die it's tough for me to talk about this one because I have shared a lot of hugs off camera right now with parents and students who are okay but we know there are some parents who are not getting that news uh that student did tell me that he knows a couple of the people that were shot he's worried that one of the people he thinks was shot um is also one of the ones that died um so our thoughts and prayers are going out to not only the students the staff The Faculty but the parents and really this entire Community because as we said it's not only parents that are coming out here to come check on the kids it's neighbors it's grandparents it's loved ones it's friends we talked with one neighbor who said she walked 2 and 1/2 miles just to come and check on her friend's kid to make sure that he was okay and just lay some eyes on him she had told me that he was in the principal's office and the principal told him to run and not look back we've talked with other students and parents who have said that they heard the gunshots parents getting the text from their kids not even wanting to believe it's real and then questioning if they were going to get to see their kid they're finally getting to see and touch and feel that they're okay for some parents out here but there is a ton of emotion I think we have some sound from you for some of those students I want to toss that now if we can get that so we are still working on getting that sound but again just the overall emotion here for not only the students but the parents but also the law enforcement you really feel a sense of heaviness out here outside of the high school today guys all right Molly and and let us know when you're ready with that sound because we really would love to hear um from some of the the people with their reactions and their emotions and what they saw and heard tonight or or really rather earlier in the day uh as this unfolds so mly thank you so much we can certainly uh feel from you the emotion of the day out there um so much going through the minds and hearts of the people out here in Baro County uh as this continues it really does take on a different type of motion when you start hearing the words uh directly from those students and Molly and Doug and some of our other reporters out there have been talking directly to students we just heard from According to Molly that student saying that they were told to get in the corner and they could hear the gunfire and they believe that someone they know was shot and perhaps one of the ones who um was fatally injured and that's when it really gets real for a lot of people because it's not just a shooting this is someone you know this is someone you have class with and and and just to hear that from students I think really you can understand why it brings that type of emotion out potentially someone you may have grown up with and gone to elementary middle and now high school with and we hear these situations all across the country so many times and as you said it just becomes real um when it's right here in your own Community uh we do know that this story is having wide reaching effects we heard from uh us attorney general Meritt Garland earlier uh making comments and um s his thoughts and offering assistance uh but right now we also understand that the White House will be providing a briefing very shortly we will of course bring you that as soon as we uh know somebody comes and steps to the stadium we understand President Joe Biden has been briefed on everything that's going on um it's not clear right now who from the White House will be speaking but again we will bring you that as soon as we see someone moving toward the podium but again this just signals how serious of a situation this really has become as it continues to to balloon uh unfortunately we have seen the numbers increase and in reporting from CNN four dead 30 injured and we will of course bring you this briefing uh as soon as it gets underway and we're also expecting to hear from the sheriff in Winder around 4:00 this afternoon perhaps before uh that but that's when we're told the next update could come so again we are awaiting uh news updates from both the White House and from the law enforcement there in Winder and I wouldn't be surprised to at some point today hear from Governor Brian Kemp he did release a statement but knowing him he will likely either be there uh later today or at least uh issue some type of statement considering how serious this is has gotten to be exactly and again we have been hearing from law enforcement and state officials across uh Georgia who have been sending their support and their thoughts to the bero County Community um following news of this shooting out there at appalache High school you're looking at images that we got from earlier in the day some of them from the ground some of them from our 11 life Sky tracker as we have been keeping an eye on what has been going on and learning more and more information as the hours have passed um this image right here on your screen gives you a view of what we've been talking about just the sheer volume of law enforcement responding to this situation not just from Barrow County but also from surrounding areas uh and not just la enforcement we also know that First Responders from other communities were sharing the load as well working to help in response to this shooting what we understand is a shooting uh and we are just now seeing that the gbi has now confirmed uh four people dead nine hospitalized that information coming again from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation of four people dead nine hospitalized we heard earlier in the day from Grady hospital that they had at least one person who had a gunshot wound that had been transported from Barrow County to Atlanta for treatment at Grady hospital and again we are just working to get you new details new information piece by piece as it continues to come in and be confirmed and as you mentioned earlier Jennifer we don't know the extent of those uh injuries nonhospitalized would lead you to believe that there is some type of injury where of course they would need to be seeking medical care but there could have been other students who were hurt perhaps in the chaos of running we we just don't know so that could be perhaps uh why we saw some of the larger numbers with 30 injured according to CNN but again the latest information from the gbi that we can confirm four dead nonhospitalized uh and the suspect again if you were just joining us is in custody we do not know any details about who that suspect is or any uh details about what led up to the shooting today that happened according to police around 9:30 today we have been hearing on the ground within the last hour from a lot of students who witnessed this we have heard that it happened according to students around the 10th grade hallway several students reported hearing the gunfire this morning students telling us that they ran in the corner uh they turned off the lights uh many of them ran for cover if they were in an area where they could do so uh but this is all contained according to police at this point and now the investigation really starts this to what happened here why it happened and interviewing those students uh who were still at the school is a big part of figuring all of that out and you mentioned those interviews we heard from a neighbor who was checking on uh a friend's child out there at appalachi high school that the gbi is in fact interviewing students out there at this hour we know that the unification process has begun and that some family members are being reunited with their students but we also know that some students are being held back so that they can in fact be interviewed so that the gbi can learn from those students what they saw what they may have heard uh what they may have viewed and any sort of information that they may have that can help with this investigation so we are uh learning that some of that is on undergoing and on uh in process out there at aalach high school and again we are still waiting to hear from the White House I believe or I believe we're going to go straight to the White House for an update uh from the White House let's listen in yet another horrific shooting now as a parent myself I know the anxiety that comes with sending your kid out into the world every day living with the real fear of the worst the worst can happen so please know that our hearts are with those families in Winder Georgia who are forced to face this act of Senseless violence I want to let you know that the president and the vice president have both been briefed and his administration will continue coordinating with federal state and local officials as we receive more information we're grateful for the brave First Responders who are on the scene and we stand by We Stand ready to provide support as needed as the president has said time and time again this is not normal this is not normal students and teachers deserve to know that their schools are safe they should focus on learning not lockdowns while the president and vice president have taken historic action to reduce gun violence more must be done to keep our schools and Community safe we continue to call on Congress to do something to do something we need Universal background checks we need ban to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines require safe storage of firearms invest in violence prevention programs and pass a national red flag law enough is enough and I cannot say this enough which is enough is enough we cannot allow this to happen in our communities we cannot allow this to happen in our schools so we have to do everything that we can to keep our children safe to keep the people who are supposed to protect our children where our children who who are they supposed to learn from safe and enough is enough Congress needs to act now turning to my colleague uh from NSC who's here to discuss uh the latest Bay Harris Administration actions today against foreign actors attempting to ctly influence our elections and undermine confidence in our Democratic institution Admiral John Kirby will discuss the coordinated actions we are taking in addition to other foreign policy news of the day Admiral and you have been listening to Karine jeanpier the White House Press Secretary speaking about this unfolding shooting at appalache high school right now we have confirmed with the gbi that four people are dead and nine hospitalized in the White House Press Secretary uh saying that their hearts are with families that uh president Joe Biden and vice president kamla Harris have been briefed on the situation uh she called this a senseless act of violence saying that she is grateful for First Responders but also saying that this is not normal and that must more must be done uh she said enough is enough and called on Congress saying they need to act and also mentioned some specific things like Universal background checks and violence prevention uh programs that do need to happen but again that's uh what we are just hearing from the White House press secretary in response to the shooting at aalach High School in Barrow County Georgia and just as the press secretary was speaking uh President Biden in the white house also releasing a statement reiterating some of the same things that he said really saying that um what should have been a joyous back to school season in Winder has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart uh the president going on to say and part with this statement students across the country are learning how to Duck and Cover instead of how to read and write we cannot continue to accept this as normal and that is what we heard from Karine jeanpierre saying twice reiterating this is not normal but sadly this has become something that some of us have become all too familiar with seeing as we have seen yet another school shooting happen uh this time right here in our community and again we do want to reiterate that we are just confirming within the last 30 minutes or so with the gbi that four people have lost their lives today at appalache high school as a result of this nine people hospitalized uh we do not know at this hour the extent of the injuries of those who have been hospitalized but we are working to gather more information we heard from the sheriff earlier today uh not many details given there but we are expecting and hoping that we will hear from the sheriff once again around 4:00 and we'll of course bring you that briefing as soon as it begins just as we did with that briefing from the White House and Jennifer you mentioned earlier a lot of people who've been watching ing our coverage and who were tuning in just a few hours ago you could see uh just how serious this was it seemed you know sort of every 15 minutes we would see you know another um sort of group of law enforcement show up more ambulances we saw the medical helicopters leading us to believe that this was a lot more serious than the initial call perhaps uh suggested and again these numbers really uh underscoring that four dead n hospitalized perhaps more than that even injured According to some other reporting we've heard um but this time 2:25 you know this has been unfolding since about 9:30 this morning and there are still a lot of answers we don't have and we may not have those answers today and and maybe not even by the end of this week uh the sheriff suggesting that this is still very early still very fluid and he said that he may be able to give uh some additional information uh when they talk to us around 4:00 but at this point we're just going to have to wait and see what else we learn today we have learned from the sheriff's office that one suspect is in custody we do know that however we have not received any information from the sheriff's office about who that uh suspect might be we don't have any concrete information at least not from the sheriff's office about if this person uh is a student or not if this person had any connection to the school we do not have any of those details at this hour but once we do learn them we will of course share them with you both on air and online but that's just one piece of this that we are waiting and hoping to hear soon uh as more and more people are hopefully being reunited with their students out there on appalachi high school campus and uh we do know that some of those students are being held back in order to assist in this investigation to speak with members of law enforcement particularly with the gbi and again this is something you see right here on your screen this visual from earlier today the sheer number of students that were evacuated out of that school taken to the football uh Court the excuse me the football field there um for a safe space until they could be reunited and so that is uh on underway right now we have heard from um some family members and friends who say their student is being interviewed and again that reunification process is also underway we've heard from our Molly Oak out there on the ground uh with one parent at least saying that she walked 2 and a half miles just to get to the school to make sure that her child was okay we've heard that and we've heard neighbors stepping in where perhaps parents could not get to the school as quickly and neighbors saying I'll go check on your child uh just to make sure they're okay uh parents again have been allowed for the last couple hours or so to go and reunite with their students sadly some of them won't be able to do that as we have heard that four dead and nine hospitalized we don't have the breakdown on how many of those uh who are injured or those casualties are students but what we have been hearing uh for the last hour or so direct uh accounts direct stories from students who were nearby or in the 10th grade hallway and heard the gunfire perhaps some of them even saw this unfold one of the students we just heard from about 30 minutes ago said that he could hear the gunfire he ran into the corner uh the teacher turned off the light and they waited for this all to be over with not realizing just how horrible this would turn out to me uh that student also saying that he was about to go to the bathroom but he didn't and he hid uh in the classroom and other students earlier in the day saying that they ran uh because they didn't know what was going on so we're starting to hear more firsthand accounts as these stories are also being shared directly with law enforcement as they try to figure out uh the exact details and the timing of how this unfolded and Jonathan not too long ago we heard from uh a a student holding on to his mother a 10th grade student sharing his account of what he experienced today hearing those gunshots in the hallway but you could just see them holding on to each other and I think that's what so many families will be doing tonight those who can uh and unfort Ely those who we know there are those who will not be able to do that tonight with the gbi now confirming four people uh have been killed as we heard from our mly oaku is still there on the scene a considerable police presence still there we do know according to the sheriff that the scene there at the high school is contained they have the suspect in custody but their investigation still is very much starting they need to figure out many more details they're collecting evidence they're talking with students so I would uh I would assume that they're going to be there for a long time this is still early even though this happened hours ago they still have a lot of people to talk to and a lot of ground to cover as they try to figure out what happened perhaps even reviewing if there were any sort of cameras in the school uh what happened and and how this happened and unfold it and I'm just looking on social media the gbi again has confirmed four dead nine people taken to what they're saying are various hospitals with injuries there's no uh direct information no confirmation the type of injuries that some of these people have sustained uh the GBA also tweeting out on or or posting on acts that the suspect is in custody and that person is alive uh there seemed to have been some reports that a suspect had been quote unquote neutralized but the gbi is saying that that information is inaccurate so we can verify that a suspect is alive and in custody uh right now again that information coming from the gbi and perhap we'll learn more about that suspect uh when we hear from the sheriff I around 4:00 this afternoon a lot of people had questions in fact our Doug Richards asked is the suspect a student is it an adult uh is that person a student at the school or have any affiliation with the school the sheriff saying he's not ready to answer those questions just yet uh but that's a question that we have asked we're also waiting to get more information about other schools that have been placed on lockdown earlier today every single School in uh Barrow County had been on lockdown right after this unfolded the sheriff said one of their goals in the next couple hours was to uh release some of those students I guess they're going to do that you know orderly because they obviously don't want every parent in the district bracing to the schools at once uh so when we get updates on how that release and how that lockdown will be lifted at those other schools we'll keep you updated on that as well and of course that is something that would typically be standard with any sort of situation these lockdowns and you know Jonathan we were talking earlier in the the broadcast here that normally if there is something we do hear about schools going into lockdown even if it has nothing to do with the school they may place a a School on lockdown if there's police activity in the nearby vicinity just to make sure that they're taking an abundance of caution but earlier in the day when we heard the the word hard lockd down I think that was a signal to so many of us that this was a different type of situation that this was more serious and uh unfortunately that has turned out to be true the gbi confirming four dead nine hospitalized at various hospitals across our Metro Atlanta region if you're just joining us and again we have learned that a suspect is in custody that person is alive but we don't have any other confirmed details about who that suspect is we are expecting to hear from the sheriff's office hopefully around 4:00 we did hear from the sheriff earlier today not many detail shared with us at that point the sheriff saying that he hopes to speak again around 4:00 and hopes to be able to provide more information and hopes to at that point be able to answer questions uh from the media and we'll of course bring you that as soon as we uh get word that it is coming and as soon as we get word that it is about to take place again the sheriff really the only one at this point authorized to speak on the investigation but we have heard and received statements from Governor Brian Kemp along with Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens emphasizing the resources from the Atlanta area will be sent uh to this area along with additional patrols uh being stepped up at Atlanta public schools in light of what's happened we also within the last 20 minutes heard from the white house uh from the press secretary Karen Jean pier and others but again the only specific information about the investigation has been coming from the sheriff and around 4:00 he's expected to provide another update on that from Winder again as I said I would not be surprised to hear from Governor Bri Camp again this afternoon as well I think that is uh something that we will likely uh get at some point later on this evening and of course we'll bring you that both on air and online as it comes in from uh Governor Brian Kimo or anybody else we will share those uh thoughts and those messages with you as well you know Jonathan you mentioned that the white house uh mentioned this uh during a briefing not too long ago we brought you that live here just a few moments ago uh the press secretary Karine John Pier saying that they hearts are with families President Joe Biden and vice president K Harris have been briefed on this ongoing situation calling this an act of Senseless violence saying that they are grateful for First Responders and all the hard work that is being done in response but saying that this is not normal and more must be done right now you were looking at some video from earlier this afternoon shortly after this all unfolded at the high school again the first calls came in around 9:30 this morning police were quickly on the scene around uh 10:00 or a little before and we started seeing the police presence grow uh really uh presence from all over our state we saw officers from guet County of course the city of Atlanta um ATF gbi really any agency that you can think of was on the scene or is still on the scene earlier today as they really work to not only secure the area and figure out what was going on but also to transport those who were injured uh to where they needed to be we saw a number of medical helicopters also showing up on the scene but again the latest information we can confirm according to the gbi is four dead and nine hospitalized perhaps more than that even injured we're waiting for another update to come in from the sheriff in Winder and we saw from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation posting on acts that these people are have been taken to various hospitals we know from Grady Hospital earlier in today that they uh have at least one patient who suffered a gunshot wound from aalach high school uh that number may have increased at this point and we also don't have a further confirmation about where else these people have been taken other than the gbi saying that nine people have been hospitalized at various facilities across our Metro Atlanta region we will bring you that information as soon as we get that that confirmation but right now what we do know is that families are being reunited with their students both at appalache high school but also uh that's working to to be done at other schools in Barrow County as well as other schools were placed on lockdown as a result of this ongoing situation we do know at this hour that some students are being held back While others have been reunited because these students are speaking with investigators are speaking with the gbi about what they saw what they witnessed what they heard maybe any information that they may have that might assist them in that investigation so that process is underway today as well that's right and Jennifer you mentioned uh we do know at least one of those gunshot victims uh is at Grady Memorial Hospital a level one Trauma Center CNN also reporting according to their sources that at least one adult has been taken to pedmont Athens Regional Hospital in North Georgia but we don't know the extent of the injuries of that person uh we just know again that as you mentioned these victims have been taken to multiple hospitals so again we at least knowing between Grady and that hospital in the Athens area as well and we know that there are so many questions that so many of you have have at home as you're watching this as you're reaching out to loved ones and we are working uh to confirm as much of that information as we can and bring it to you as soon as we have it both here on air and then online on 11alive.com and inside our 11 alive news app we are working to get you that information as soon as it comes in we also do want to share with you if you're just joining us that we are hoping that we can hear from the Sheriff's Office once again around 4:00 and we will carry that for you both on air and online and as we know with situations like this this is truly breaking news things can change as we have seen them change really hour by hour we have learned more information we have uh in terms of where the lockdowns stand in terms of the number of hospitalized injured and and those who unfortunately are dead from this situation this is all unfolding it is changing we are working we have our Newsroom working uh we have reporters there on the ground at the hospital waiting and and trying to gather more information as well so we are bringing you the very latest just as soon as we get that information as well and Jonathan I'm just getting some information from our Newsroom that there will be a Winder Community vigil tonight at 700 p.m. this is going to take place at Jug Tavern park that's at 1:13 East Athens Street and Winder Georgia the city of Winder is going to Open Jug Tavern Park uh it's going to be opened up to the community tonight at 7 uh for an opportunity for everyone to come together and grieve over everything that has taken place today grieve those four lives lost according to the gbi and I'm sure offer up some prayers and support for those who have been hospitalized and the families who have lost loved ones out there today so again this is a Winder Community vigil the city opening up Jug Tavern Park to the community this evening at 700 p.m. for that Community vigil so if you are one who is in that area or you'd like to travel to that area to offer your respects and to offer your support that would be an opportune time to do it at Jug Tavern Park 700 p.m. tonight that is 113 East Athens Street in Winder Georgia yeah and you can imagine that a lot of comfort a lot of prayers a lot of support will be needed in that Community not just tonight at this vigil but Beyond in the uh weeks and months to come after something like this just you know it really does rock the community for an incredible time I want to go out right now to love and the lives Doug Richard Doug you have been there at the high school uh really for a couple of hours now you've been speaking with students and uh with some of the parents out there what else are you learning well we're learning that the students based on their own uh characterization of what happened uh had a uh very traumatic experience and that um there was as some of them said hard to know initially what was going on when they heard the initial gunshots it was hard to know exactly that that's what that was um but then we talked to some students uh who were in a classroom uh adjacent to where at least some of the shooting took place and um and the and and they had uh very traumatic experiences um hearing the gunshots not really knowing whether the gunshots were going to get closer to them um but recognizing that it was gunfire seeing signs on on the displays that are in each classroom that said that they were on a hard lockdown and indicating that there was a genuine emergency taking place the teachers putting them into the lockdown protocol where they uh piled into corners of classrooms in order to uh sort of minimize the possible exposure as targets uh we talked with the one uh young lady by the name of Zoe gray who uh described what she went through in her class were you uh were there was there ever any any moment when you thought you were in danger oh yeah I thought I was going to die I they were it was like it sounded so close I'm sure it was cuz it was right near I don't know exactly which door but you hear bang bang like like they're uh kind of like they're trying to get in a door it wasn't our door but I'm sitting right by the door and so it sounds like they're trying to get in but I don't know if it's shots or they're just trying to get in we were just having a normal day it wasn't anything different than what we were used to I was they usually make you put up your phone but I was charging mine today so I luckily had it and that was just normal and then bang bang bang hard lock down and the teachers were phenomenal like my we have a a special teacher for the blind kid and then we have our normal teacher and they were very good at doing their job of keeping us calm I talked with probably a half dozen students uh as they were leaving here many of them were with their parents and the parents gave their blessings to us to talk to them um almost all of them said that they were convinced that there was more than one gunman uh one student told us that they heard shots from different locations within the school uh one student told us that when they exited out the actually a couple of students told us when they exited out the hallway they saw uh the body of uh somebody in the hallway who they believed to be one of the student gunman so we know that the gbi is telling us that one gunman is in custody the students at least left here convinced that there was more one more than one gunman and that there was uh uh and that and that one of them uh was killed by police uh in the course of the of the investigation the authorities have not confirmed that um and the students are saying it just based on their observations uh student told us that the one person that they believed was a gunman uh laying deceased in the hallway actually had a firearm uh who which she described as a as an assault rifle um on the ground with him uh when they led him past led the students past uh the person uh deceased in the hallway so um it's hard to tell nobody knew we we we talked to one student who said that he knew uh a gunman um casually didn't describe anything particularly unusual about about this particular person who he believed was a gunman um but there's a lot of information flying around obviously in here some of which um may not be true uh but some of which is gathered by people who said they saw firsthand uh in the hallway as they were evacuating their classrooms um just based on evidence that they saw um the good news of course is that it appears the Danger's over the students are are casually exiting uh the school now uh mostly with their parents um very relieved that this is over um and um not planning to come back to school tomorrow is uh is what they're telling us back to you all right Doug thank you so much and we do want to give you some information from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation they are saying that the suspect in this shooting is in custody and that that person is alive they say that reports that the suspect has been neutralized are inaccurate they're also uh saying that reports of additional shootings taking place at nearby schools are incorrect again any reports of additional shootings taking place at nearby schools in Barrow County are not not correct that information coming from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation they're posting this information on X to kind of refute some information that uh misinformation that is out there but again the suspect is in custody the suspect is alive any reports that the suspect has been neutralized are inaccurate in any reports of additional shootings at nearby schools are also Incorrect and we will likely hear that emphasized coming up in a bit when we hear from the sheriff and Winder uh any moment now perhaps around uh 4:00 though that's around the time we're expecting so probably actually more uh looking at an hour from now but again Jennifer you're reiterating that because we have heard uh a lot of information sometimes it is misinformation sometimes it is rumors when things like this happen you have a lot of students who uh witness things firsthand students who heard something second or third hand from someone and so there's a lot of information going around in addition to what we hear and see on social media so the information we're providing to you is coming directly from the gbi or from law enforcement sources and as soon as we confirm things or can uh you know sort of knock something out that has been uh put out there we can let you know that as well all right and once again what we have learned we just want to be very crystal clear with this the gbi has confirmed four people have died nine people have been transported to various hospitals but the suspect is alive and in custody and there are no uh shootings that have taken place as a result at surrounding schools Jonathan we've been talking about the reunification process going on not just here at appalachi high school but also at other schools in Barrow County those processes are undergoing right now they're underway um as parents are uh being reunited with those students cuz we know those other schools were placed on lockdown as well as a result of this shooting that's right at one point every school in Barrow County was placed on lockdown uh the sheriff did say one of their goals in the next bit was to make sure that those lockdowns could be lifted and students could be reunited uh with their parents we're talking about uh elementary schools and middle schools so some younger students in that area and in addition to what's happening here at the high school where students were allowed to leave campus with their parents uh shortly after this happened once they got the scene clear and got things uh contained but again the investigation far from over in fact is just starting according to the sheriff and that is why you are still seeing a ton of police presence at the school because they have a lot of work to do to get to the bottom of what happened including interviewing a lot of these students and particular we're told a lot of the 10th grade students because according to Witnesses we've spoken to this happened on the 10th grade hallway in the school many of the students actually telling us that they heard the gunfire they had to run for cover they turned off the lights in the classroom uh they ducked uh you know just trying to figure out what may be going on so we're getting some of those firsthand accounts uh from students as uh really the hours go by we also heard from a senior who just so happened to have a class on that 10th grade Hall and so it really is difficult to know what all what type of student what what range of age or grade uh may have been more heavily impacted by this shooting directly who may have been uh closer to what transpired but again we receiving various accounts from students from our reporters on the ground there at appalache high school and we are just sharing you uh sharing with you their accounts we I can't get out of my mind Jonathan the mother and son just holding on to each other uh the mother didn't even say a word she allowed her son to to share what he experienced he talked about it's sounding like a locker being slammed and they thought initially that it might be somebody just ring around in the hallway until the sound continued and then they heard about the hard lockdown and that is what drove all of the students to the back of the classroom as you mentioned to turn off the lights until they were able to leave and uh we we've said that this is something that students practice for nowadays but uh practicing for something like this and it actually unfolding in your actual life is is a completely different situation very different perhaps we can even get our producers to get that sound recue to run a little bit I think it's was so emotional and I think gripping to really see that Mom and her son right next to each other really giving a firsthand account of what he saw and then you saw her emotion just in her faceing just listening and seeing the visual and the audio from that was just probably the most emotional thing I've seen so far in our covered so we'll see if our producers can get that back up but again a lot of answers we just don't have at this hour this all started to unfold around 9:30 this morning but here we are going into the 3 :00 hour and still waiting for some specific answers as to uh exactly how many people uh were truly affected by this we know according to the gbi four dead nine hospitalized but perhaps more people have been affected by this in terms of physically uh in terms of injuries but we know this community uh is just shaken it is rocked by this and tonight as you mentioned there will be a community visual happening I believe around 7:00 yeah 7:00 Jug Tavern Park 7:00 p.m. that that is 1113 East Athens Street in Winder Georgia that is where that Community vigil will be taking place tonight for anyone who wants to attend and uh show their love and support following this shooting uh Jonathan I'm hearing from our producers that we do have that sound once again take a listen and and take a a look if you can uh just to to feel what this family this mother and son uh were experiencing following today's shooting um it was just like a loud boom as if a locker had slammed so my teacher thought it was just like some kid acting foolish so then she took a peek outside and then we heard repeated leave the banging again and that's when we could identify it was the gun and then the hard lock down was placed and then we ran to the back of the classroom turn off the lights I was shaking scared and I didn't have my phone on me and I couldn't communicate to with my mom for half an hour and I I didn't know what was going to happen cuz you could hear the gun fires right down the hall so I don't know if it was like the last chance I had to talk with her but luckily I'm here luckily he is here and you could hear as he was recounting those moments the mom you could just see it in her face uh kind of reliving probably what she had felt just moments ago before she knew that her son was there and he was okay and that is the story that is the scene uh of so many parents uh who were showing up today some of them still showing up to the school picking up their children I would assume that many of them by now have uh shown up already uh but for many who are not as fortunate as that mother to be able to hug their kids tonight those are the people we've got to think about um a lot of people a lot of family members affected by what happened certainly and we've been hearing from our reporters there on the ground speaking with students speaking with family members trying to get a hold of their students some parents telling us they walked for more than 2 miles to get to the school because there is as you see right here from earlier such a heavy police and law enforcement presence there on the ground at appalachi high school parents just parking anywhere they could and saying I'm going to walk on foot I'm going to do whatever it takes to get to my child on this school's campus following these reports of this shooting something that parents never want to hear about they never want to get that message and unfortunately we heard from several students today who said either it took them a long time to get to their phone or they did not have access to their phone and that can only imagine just add it to the agony for those students and for their parents looking for information looking for confirmation from their student that they were okay yeah just to be in that situation and and feel sort of helpless uh not having that communication just makes it I'm sure uh so much more um heartbreaking and and and really just scary uh to say the least um we do know that we are expecting another update as we keep telling you from the sheriff so please stay with us here this afternoon because that could come within the next hour we have already already heard through statements from Governor Brian Kemp Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens and US attorney general Meritt Garland who spoke earlier along with Karine Jean Pierre from the White House the press secretary the President also issuing a statement shortly thereafter uh really reiterating what she what she said uh um earlier and I think the thing that stood out to me in the president's statement saying we cannot continue to accept this as normal uh because we cover these and uh and this time it happened here in Georgia in our community but it happens far too often elsewhere as well far too frequently the press secretary saying this is not normal and um unfortunately we know that this situation may take political undertones at some point uh but I think we can all agree that this is not anything that anyone wants to see in their Community or in any Community all right right now we want to go to one of our reporters are Zach merchin I believe Zach is live right now at Northeast uh Medical Center Northeast Georgia Medical Center Zach we we know that the victims have been taken to a number of hospitals what is happening where you are right Jonathan if you take a look right behind me we're in front of Northeast Georgia Medical Center's Barrow location this is where a Northeast Georgia Health System spokesperson confirms that one gunshot victim from today's school shooting was transported another gunshot victim he says was transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center's Gainesville location that spokesperson tells us that that Gainesville location is a level one Trauma Center for those of you who might not know I know you've Unfortunately today been hearing that phrase a lot level one Trauma Centers are the highest prepared most ready to handle serious trauma injuries and incidents hospitals across the state this spokesperson we talked to today had no more information than that he couldn't provide the names the ages the male or female the gender the sex of of those who are injured or importantly their condition but we do know that again two people are being uh transported and actually being treated right now at Northeast Georgia Health System hospitals importantly as we talk about this community here in Barrow it's a small community a lot of people know folks who were involved who were affected by what happened today we told you we're right in front of the Northeast Georgia Medical Center well the parking lot we are in we spoke with two 18-year-old men they say they both just graduated from Winder Barrow High School just in the spring they say as you'd expect they say they are afraid that some people who they may know may have been affected by the shooting at appalache high school today they say they're watching closely to see as the we learn names and identities of those who were injured those who were hurt and those who were tragically killed they're watching closely afraid that some of the those names they'll recognize they say they went to Winder Barrow but they've been to appalache many times for high school football games and other events talk about how close this community is how many connections there are one of the men we spoke to his name is Christian Kenna he says earlier today his younger sister who is still a high school student at wer Barrow he says she was placed on lockd down at Winder Barrow we want to be really clear there was no active threat at wer Barrow authorities confirmed to us but weer police along with a slew of other law enforcement agencies who've been in the region here placed wer Barrow High School on a hard lockdown out of a abundance of caution and to make sure that all School locations in the county were secured this gentleman we talked to today Christian Kenna he says his sister was there during lockdown a frightening experience he says thankfully she is okay but he is worried he's fearful he's heartbroken he says as he worries and and is paying attention to see who all may have been affected at appalache high school we have an interview with those two gentlemen those two recent Winder Barrel high school students we're going to work to get that back to the station and bring that to you in just a little bit for now we are live outside Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Barrow all right our Zach Merchant live for us thanks so much and Zach again telling us that we know at least gunshot wound victim taken where he is in the Barrow another in Gainesville we do know again another gunshot wound victim we've learned is at Grady Hospital another level one trauma center and then CNN reporting uh a victim at the a in the Athens area at pedmont Athens Regional so again these victims takeen to a number of hospitals across North Georgia all right we want to get you back live now to the scene at appalachi high school that is where our Molly Oak is so Molly uh have you had a chance to speak with any other students or family members out there on campus well guys we just want to talk about just how heavy it is right now we're not seeing as many parents and students come through for a while there we just saw dozens coming out of the school parents finally getting to reunite with their kids loved ones getting to find either their kids or their friends kids I want you to hear from one student I just spoke with he told me that he thought he was going to die when he heard the gunshots I heard gunshots and then my teacher told us to get in the corner and then we they were clearing this I heard like screaming and police officer like get down put your hands on your head it was crazy and then um when they were clearing their building like the rooms cuz you know sometimes the shooters hide amongst the kids they were clearing our room and they busted the door and they had an AK at us like tell just put your hands in the air it was really crazy you just never know what's going to happen what was going through your head when all that I thought I was going to die and I was going to go to the bathroom right right before it happened and I'm so glad I didn't cuz I would probably be dead right now if I did you know we've talked with other students who heard the gunshots as well one told me that she didn't feel like it was real until officers kept telling them unlock the door unlock the door we need to get you out and she said when those officers got in they told them to run outside she said that's when it hit her that something was seriously wrong at the school now I want to step aside so you can see what that school looks like now still a very heavy police presence and not just from here in the local County but the gbi telling us is not only local but also state and federal we have seen gbi we have seen FBI as well and we have seen sheriffs and police from counties all across Georgia now we have a ton of law enforcement but even more parents and loved ones waiting to reunite with their students we can see them coming out of the school still now for some perspective on that a lot of the students were taken out to the football field one neighbor told me she was helping out her friend trying to get to their child faster and said that that child was AC in the classroom across from where one of the classrooms a shooting happened she said that child was actually kept on the football field by the gbi for a couple of hours as they were waiting to get questioned as the investigation continues so that's why even hours after all this has happened we're still seeing students kind of slowly but surely coming out here again this is still a very active scene at the high school as we are watching some of these parents finally reunite with their loved ones after a very very heavy day here in the county guys our Mal yoke live for us says she continues to speak with students out there just heartbreaking hearing from some of those students that one young man saying I thought I was going to die um and I think you know that's what you hear when you hear gunshots you wonder how serious this is you wonder if that person is going to come to your classroom it is very real it is very raw and um just glad that some of these students are able to tell that story I know they certainly are especially that to hear that young man say that he was about to go to the restroom mhm and that he is so glad that he did not that is not a situation or a thought that any parent or any loved one wants to imagine their child having to have thought that through because you wonder would you have been in the line of fire yeah because when you think about this many victims uh four dead non hospitalized perhaps even more injured you wonder if I had have been in the line of fire would I be among that number and that is what some of these students are thinking one of those students also told Molly uh they didn't think this was real they thought hey this may just be a drill until they heard law enforcement banging on the door saying get out run for your life and that's what so many students did and that is something that these students I've been saying will will live with for the rest of their lives this is going to be something that they have to work through um but fortunately we have already seen so many things coming together with the community so many different law enforcement and first responder partners coming forward to help with this situation we've seen neighbors rushing to the school in the stad of family members who couldn't get there to check on children for their neighbors we also know that uh for those of you who are hoping for an opportunity to show your love and support we know that there will be a Winder Community vigil that is taking place tonight at Jug Tavern park at 700 p.m. that's at 1:13 East Athens Street in Winder so I'm going to say that information for you once again in case you want to grab a pen and write this down there is a Winder Community vigil taking place and this is going to be at Jug Tavern park at 700 p.m. this is at 1:13 East Athens Street in Winder and that is where that Community visual will take place tonight at 700 p.m. so people uh can go out there and offer their support uh to the community and also pay respects to those who uh have unfortunately have lost their lives in this situation the gbi confirming four people are dead tonight and I'd assume that that vigil will be packed with people in this community um this is a you know not a tiny Community but it's a relatively small community where you would assume that people know someone at that high school they have a loved one they have a friend someone that they know affiliated with this high school and so this is it just affected so many people so again that visual happening tonight uh and we are coming up right on the 3:00 hour where we expect within the next hour to hear from the sheriff and Winder to get another update during his last update a short time ago he did confirm that there were injuries uh there were fatalities but did not give any specific numbers also saying that the suspect is in custody but not saying much about who that suspect is or any perhaps uh potential motive behind this today all right uh our Kaitlyn Ross is joining us now out here and Caitlyn you you say you spoke with a parent about what their experience was as they were learning more and more about this shooting and waiting to get all of the information they could That's What's So Scary About This these first calls came in parents are rushing to the school trying to get any information we can this one father I spoke to says he was at the school by 10:30 rushed in was able to get his daughter immediately but says from then on it was Panic it was chaos people were trying to get accurate information that's what we have been doing all in afternoon is making sure that all of the information that we're bringing to you is accurate that we have it sourced that we have it confirmed because he says there were so many rumors flying it was hard to keep track of where it happened who it happened to when it happened he says all of the parents and students were coralled out onto the football field he says it was hot people were sobbing kids couldn't get water or food he says their backpacks their phones their car keys were all still inside the school so they couldn't leave they couldn't call their parents he said says that he was going around trying to get kids in touch with their parents so they knew where to reunite with everyone but he says it was a really difficult situation and I just got off the phone with him five minutes he's still on that football field take a listen it it was very unorganized and and the reason being is they weren't ready for this they that nobody's seen this coming you you don't you don't really know what to do so they kind of just have them all thrown in the field out here so they can make sure everybody safe I think and what he said there that really struck a chord with me was you didn't see this coming you hear about this but you cannot prepare for this type of horror and he says that is what the kids and the parents are trying to wrap their minds around right now that this happened in their community and Jonathan I think you made such an important Point earlier when you said this is a small community it's a tight-knit community and as I was starting to hear from parents and Educators and families there it's they all know someone in that Community they are all connected to each other and so that's why we're being so careful to make sure that the information that we're sharing is confirmed because these rumors are flying if you've been on social media at all today you've seen five different stories of what could have happened and so he really wanted to emphasize that he's grateful for the accurate information that's coming out because the kids are getting really scared as they keep hearing these rumors that turn out not to be true but in a situation like this it's so difficult to keep track of everything and something you pointed out out I think is interesting we're seeing some of these aerial shots of all the students but hearing that perspective of what's going on directly on the ground not having communication being tired frustrated not getting the answers you can imagine for those students and parents how hard that is yeah he says this is really going to be a hard reset moment where the school and schools across Georgia across the country are going to have to come up with a really firm plan because he says that's where a lot of the frustration comes from is that he didn't feel like they had a plan he didn't feel like they knew knew exactly where to go or how to contact their parents or how to share information about what was happening so he says look the school is trying their best they're doing everything they can but it's just really slow moving and when it's that hot they don't have water they don't have access to their phones it's just it's really frustrating when I was on the phone with him I could hear police in the background and they were really specifically telling people where to go by which hallway which teacher when they were going to be dismissed I do think this is important to highlight he said police are taking this extremely seriously in terms of safety with dismissal no child is being allowed off that football field without a parent and an ID of that parent so they're checking the IDS of every guardian or parent who comes to pick up their kids against class lists they have the gates locked and until you've shown an IDE and you can prove who you are police are not allowing those students to leave with anyone so they are really locking down the safety there and Caitlyn as you're you're talking about that process for the reunification uh we now have a live image again of what is taking place out there on that appalache high school football field um so we see small groups of people walking around that track I want to inter interrupt because we have vice president kamla Harris live I believe talking and their families of course and we are grateful to the First Responders in the law enforcement that were on the scene but this is just a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies and it's just outrageous that every day in our country in the United States of America that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive it's senseless it it is we got to stop it and we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all you know it doesn't have to be this way it doesn't have to be this way so we will continue of course to to send our prayers and my thoughts to the families and all those who were affected including you know I I'm going off script right now but listen I mean you know at at the last year I um I started a college tour and um I I I traveled our country meeting with our young leaders right and so it was College age young leaders so I did trade schools colleges universities community colleges by the way I love Jen Z I just love Jen Z right but I'll tell you one of the things one of the things that I asked every time I went to the auditorium and it would be filled with these young leader students and I'd ask them raise your hand if at any point between kindergarten and 12th grade you had to endure an active shooter drill and the for the for the young leaders who are here who are raising their hand I'm telling you every time the auditorium was packed and almost every hand went up you know a lot of us I'll speak about myself you know we had well I GRE up in California earthquake drills we had fire drills but our kids are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their god-given potential and some part of their big beautiful brain is concerned about a shooter busting through the door of the classroom it does not have to be this way it does not have to be this way and you know this is one of the many issues that's at stake in this election um so New Hampshire look we have 62 days to go 62 days to go and I'm going to tell you what you already know this race is going to be tight until the very end so please let's not pay too much attention to the polls because we are running as the underdog we know what they're capable of all right you were just listening there live to vice president kamla Harris during a rally in New Hampshire addressing what unfolded today calling it an outrageous tragedy and emphasizing she said it doesn't have to be this way all right we want to get back to Caitlyn rossu is with us cuz Caitlyn you were describing what parents will have to do in order to be reunified with their students out of appalachi high school and right now we're taking a live look at the high school at that football fields where we know students were uh were placed and taken following this shooting they said they wanted to make sure that security was as tight as it possibly could be they had the students broken up into hallways that they were in when that shooting happened and that's how they were trying to start organizing that dismissal they needed to have a parent and an ID before they were allowed outside of those Gates so the gates were locked and police officers were checking every single ID of every single parent before a student was allowed to go the frustration that this dad was telling me though was that a lot of the students couldn't get in touch with their parents because they fled the school so quickly their cell phones were still in their backpacks if they had a car there their car keys were still in their lockers so they weren't able to leave even though they were safely evacuated outside the building he said he was always also really frustrated that it didn't seem like the school had a plan to keep these kids safe once they were outside on the field that they didn't have water they didn't have food he told me he saw people passing out from the heat so he says they were evacuated safely but then after they were on that football field it didn't seem like there was a plan to care for those kids then he says he understands that they didn't have a plan because you can't plan for something like this it's so horrible it is so unimaginable that when it does happen the people on the ground are doing the best they can but what you heard him say was that was not enough that this was chaotic that kids were were sobbing they were passing out and they weren't able to reach their Guardians so he had a lot of frustration there about what was happening and how the school was handling the dismissal but police officers on the scene Educators Administration from the school they were very focused on safety and he made sure to get that point home to us you can see the kids now still on the track and he says they have been there since 10:45 this morning so you see them kind of lined up like that that's exactly what he was describing that they were trying to line kids up and organize them and figure out how to safely get them together with their parents to get out of the school but imagine this I mean these first shots happened at 9:30 in the morning it is now 3:14 and those kids are still alone without their parents on a school football field yeah still a fraction of what we saw earlier I believe some 1900 students attend that High School uh but still as you said we're looking at hours later and students still there still waiting for their Guardian still waiting for answ even as to when things will change and and you never know what a different family's situation in particular is if a parent can uh get off work to rush out there we've heard stories of neighbors going out to try and see about their other neighbors children because a parent couldn't get out there or couldn't get there as quickly and so uh it's very hard to address a situation like this if a parent normally expects their child to drive themselves home or go home with a friend and now that's that's interrupted um and this is just specifically talking about this reunification and getting kids back home mhm yeah there was so much organization that was going into this as they were trying to reunify kids with parents and just hearing you say gosh like if you couldn't reach your kid if you couldn't get there that's unimaginable it is but unfortunately these schools are put in the position where they do have to plan for this they have to be ready for it I spoke with an ER doctor who was telling me about everything they do to get ready for these situations and how they are all training so specifically for not the if but the when this happens he's a trauma doctor and he was saying that even at the smallest hospitals out here where they might not be surrounded by a big metro area he says they're training constantly for active shooter drills and the toll that that takes on the hospital staff and the EMS and the firefighters who are responding out to these scenes is incredible because they know that eventually they'll be put in this position so you know I just asked them what are you going to be doing if you're in that hospital this afternoon and he says they are scrambling into position that they train for this and every resource at every hospital where these victims are being sent is optimizing for their care right now to do everything they can to help them heal that's right because we know from the gbi that people are being taken to various Hospital facilities some in Atlanta some in Gainesville some in Barrow they're just being taken to various hospitals and even if your hospital isn't here in that particular immediate V you're certainly being pressed into action to respond appropriately to what is going on here in this Barrow County community and one of the things that we talked about today is that you know you prepare for things like this right you go through drills but it never is the same until you really have to go through this and live this and uh we saw even just from the numbers that we have on the screen four dead non-hospitalized when police got there to the scene they were dealing with an active shooter situation with a lot of victims you know so that's all so of course parents want you know to be reunified of course parents want their kids to be safe but this was very much an active scene when they arrived trying to get to the bottom of just how many victims there were that was the first thing and was everyone safe uh were there multiple Shooters uh so there were a lot of early questions uh that I think were priority and perhaps led to maybe a delay in helping some of those students who were on on the football field right exactly I wonder if we could bring up the sound from the trauma doctor because I thought that was so interesting when he was talking about the impact that this has on hospitals on caregivers when they are put into this position where Jonathan you said there is such an incredible amount of people who are pressing into these hospitals at once so his name is Dr mad atami and he is the medical director at a local hospital I can tell you as a medical director it is incredibly nerve-wracking in that we have to make sure that our you know our staff is is ready that they're prepared that we have the resources that are you know x-ray machines and cat scan machines are all working that we have the appropriate number of nurses and Physicians and um you know and mentally psychologically it does take a toll on on staff as well yeah it's going to take a toll in this whole Community for a really long time another point that he made there was it's important for all of us to remember that this is not an isolated incident today this is something that we are going to be dealing with as a state and as a country for a really long time yeah Caitlyn thank you so much for all of your reporting today thank you um we do want to get to a statement that was just released uh within the last uh hour or so from Governor Brian Camp he said Marty the girls and I are heartbroken by Today's tragedy at appalache high school this is a day every parent dreads in Georgians everywhere will hug their children tighter this evening because of this painful event we continue to work closely with local state and federal Partners to make any and all resources available to help this community on this incredibly difficult day and in the days to come that that statement posted on X by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp that's right and we have been hearing from a number of officials uh all the way up from the White House President Biden we just heard live on air from vice president K Harris Jennifer you read that statement from the governor even down to Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens emphasizing the support that the city of Atlanta is providing not only to some of the schools there in Winder uh by sending resources but also bolstering security at some of the Atlanta public schools in light of what happened today so we have heard and seeing a lot of response U today as this is all unfolded and I want to mention when we were hearing from Caitlyn earlier she was talking about hearing from that parent and how so many students and family and and staff members out there on the ground were hearing so many different things so much misinformation so I do want to clarify some things that we do know tonight from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation they are reporting again that four people are dead and an additional nine people have been taken to various hospitals with injuries this is one of the pieces of information that we do want to clarify here the gbi the Georgia Bureau of Investigation saying the suspect is in custody and is alive any reports that the suspect has been neutralized are inaccurate so that suspect is alive and in custody we also hearing reports of additional shootings the gbi says that is false any reports of any additional shootings at nearby schools are false so that is the verified information from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the suspect is in custody and alive and there have been no additional nearby shootings as a result of what we have seen unfold at appalachi high school good to have that information confirmed all afternoon really within the last couple hours we have been hearing from students who were inside the school some telling us they were in the 10th grade hallway when they heard the gunfire erupt some of them telling us they had to run into the corner turn off the lights others saying that they heard law enforcement banging on the classroom door telling them to go and run all right so we want to bring in our Cody alorn now and Cody you uh have been speaking with some folks out there who have connections to people and students out there on the ground that's right I mean you know this morning started out as a typical morning at this High School uh one of several in that Community I actually was a wake woken up out of my sleep um by my partner who said hey do you know my friend Serita her son goes to that school we need to get in touch with her I just got off the phone with her her son was in the K Hall so that's what this Hall is known as at appalache High School uh it's nth and 10th graders in this Hall she says what they found out what she's her son's telling her is that they were in the classroom all of a sudden heard multiple shots being fired um at that point they started hearing screams from the classrooms he was two classrooms down from where those shots are being fired uh they say they huddled in that classroom obviously scared uh this is not unfortunately new to these kids they've seen this they've of SE on the news they watched documentaries about this they understood what was about to happen uh she said obviously he is in shock once they got the clear the cops came and got them out of their classroom and that's when he saw what no nth grader should ever see he's a nth grader there um as they were walking they saw those bodies in the hallway they looked into a classroom they could see blood in one of those classrooms and as you can imagine um Sera said you know he's still in shock at this point he's been crying off and on and I asked her I said well how did you find out you know that's so many parents are going to that in this community she was actually at work a colleague of hers got a text and said hey there's been a shooting from her her kid and just want to tell you I love you obviously these kids did not know if they were going to be shot what was going to happen inside the school Serita said immediately they just jumped in the car and started driving to appalachi high school she said they're in fact one of the first 50 parents people getting to that school she said on the way there they did get in touch at least with her son you know he was hysterical but said Mom I'm okay but this is what's happened there's been a shooting and she said it took about an hour to get to him obviously every parent wanted to get to their kid just put their hands on their child uh but she said it was about three more hours until they could get out of that football field you know she was there among these parents and students and I think now it's the shock and I think it's setting in that this happened in our community um you know I was telling news room while ago I was just up there talking to sheriff Jud Smith you know he graduated uh from the nearby high school at 8 miles from there he's from that community and I think the context of this is the fact that when they got that word shots being fired inside appalache High School many of those men and women responding there either have children there they know family member there they had no students that are there and the whole time driving there they knew what was about to happen and I think you know those 91 dispatchers I think we forget about them that's what you know I was hearing parents students calling and saying hey what's going on those dispatchers trying to get all of these officers there but I think it's just now it's setting in like this has happened in our community I think that's the um the reality setting in I don't think you ever think it's going to happen to you yeah and and you mentioned the the heartbreaking reality that these students had to see some of this it's it's difficult enough to know that someone you know someone that you love someone that you see every day at school has lost their lives or has been injured but then to see the results of that with your own eyes in class that is something I keep saying the mental toll this is going to take on so many of these students that is something they will never be able to forget yeah I just watched a documentary I mean it's ironic just literally this past weekend of a past school shooting down in Florida we all know that one very well and that's what those students who were interviewed said they'll never get out of their minds they wish they hadn't seen those bodies they wish they hadn't seen the blood because that's what they'll never get out of their minds and you know I think that's what Serita you know I think parents are now concerned you know what did they hear what did they see and I think now it's just you know starting that dialogue and trying to process that because I don't think you know as a nth grader that's not what you ever want your nth grader to see or experience and I think for those kids again they heard that first shot and they already knew and I think it's just a terrifying you know once it stopped and I think that's what as the details come out you know did they engage with the shooter how they got the shots stopped you as you mentioned there were some false reporting that the shooter was neutralized but you know the person is in custody and I think that's what everyone wants to know why but I think it's a complex investigation obviously they're probably at the suspect's home trying to figure out how long this had been planned were there any more people involved um was this a bigger type of event but you know I just you know talking to Serita on the phone I think it's just it kind of sets in it gives you context this town is what I think 20,000 people you know the school has 2,000 students obviously every student that schooler parent knows that student or that teacher or that coach who whoever might have been these victims they're not walking out you know everybody walked into school today thinking hey it's you know it's a regular Wednesday and unfortunately some of those people are not walking out of that school did Serita say if uh her that student had been uh interviewed by the gbi or anyone on scene or had any questions I haven't got that far again she could not reach me we've been trying to get back and forth but sell service that's another thing a lot of people can not get through up there you had 2,000 students plus their parents plus family members trying to text and call that was tying up the lines then you had all of these emergencies responders texting calling and so a lot of people couldn't get a hold of their loved ones um so I do not know that but typically in these situations you know that is part of the process before they're released but you know I didn't get a long conversation with her I just wanted to kind of get some details before I jumped on the air here but you know it's it seems as if if they haven't been interviewed they will have a process of doing that but I think right now it's just trying to again the investigation still in its early stages figure out how did this happen why did it happen making sure there are no other threats out there but you think about even just from learning what happened and then you said what about a 3-hour time window time frame to actually getting that reunited that moment I mean just imagine that as a parent as a student as anyone and you know I think it's it's really quick for us to sit here on these chairs or parents sit at home and question how these events went I know there's some questions about they were on that football field for 3 hours it seemed chaotic but again this just happened at 9:30 this morning these deputies all these agencies were just on routine Patrol when these shots came in they practiced for this but you know I I covered the Townville shooting up in Anderson South Carolina Townville I covered a middle school shooting in Greenville South Carolina and you know again they train for this but until it happens you cannot put that into reality and you know they just trying to get these kids out to that football field they're just trying to get these kids safe and then you know make sure the suspects in custody make sure the suspect is no longer a threat and I think that's where you know I think we all have to kind of step back and realize you know they did a great job obviously responding but you know that'll all be coming out you know in the days after but right now I think the biggest concern is those students who heard the shots those families impacted forever and of course the school that this will now be their history they will always be known as oh that school shooting at appalache high school yeah and we've been hearing from our other reporters out there on the ground coding and many of them have spoken with students or parents and loved ones out there who have a student in their life who heard those gunshots and describe being in a nearby classroom on that 10th grade Hall hearing those gunshots and I just I can't help but think that that is something that these students will will live with forever and I think you know that's we always talk about that you know the the connection with these students after something like this you know right now everything is so decisive this country I think this is the time when this community needs to know we're all wrapping our arms around them I think at this point all of that needs to stop you know I think this tragedy again for context this town's 20,000 people this is a small community everybody knows everybody and this will forever change the history of this town this school and this district and again I think you got to realize and think about again the First Responders I mentioned the 911 dispatchers could you imagine sitting there this morning those 91 dispatchers obviously moms themselves they know someone at that school they you know a student getting those calls help us help us there's a shooter I'm sure those calls will be released in the coming weeks we'll hear those but and all they can do is send every possible resource to try to get that person to stop and then you know everybody hangs up with them and they kind of have to watch us they have to listen in what happens next and I think that's when we all sit back and talk about I think you have to you know take all of that into uh context context and perspective because it's more than just those Folks at that appalache high school it's that entire community and and you speaking about the community I do want to remind everyone we've been telling you a couple times here that there is a Winder Community visual that is scheduled for 700 p.m. tonight we know that when something like this happens so many people are looking for what they can do to help anyone to show their support so there is a community visual take uh visual taking place at Jug Tavern park at 7:00 p.m. that's at 1:13 East Athens Street in wer Georgia 1 113 East Athens Street and Winder Georgia Jug Tavern park at 7:00 p.m. and um Jonathan we were saying we're sure that this will be very well attended with a lot of people who just want to wrap their arms around this community and one thing I think the big question a lot of people are asking I'm sure you know you guys have asked too about the suspect and I think a lot of people are looking at us like who is this person there's obviously reports out there but you know the thing is within just a few hours after this they already likely at the suspect's home you know they have them identified but there's a lot of things they have to kind of confirm before we put it out there cuz once you put that out there there's no taking that back and you know it's not I think there's a lot of things they have to look into the suspect's family you know they didn't ask for this so I think there's a lot of things you know they want to make sure before they come out and identify this person they have all those facts out there before we put it out into the public and you can never retract that that's exactly what we heard from the sheriff he's saying look I know the media wants details I know the community wants all these details but he's saying that we're just not ready to release that yet we do expect to hear from the sheriff in uh that area around 4:00 this afternoon he told us he would try to give us an update then so if we do get that update we'll bring that to you both here and uh online as well and that's in just about a half an hour or so we'll bring that to you on air online and in our 11 alive news app because we know so many people are waiting for those updates we know there are so many questions right now about what exactly happened how it happened why it happened and that is something that we will likely have to wait some days weeks and months in some cases to learn that information but of course we'll continue to work on this bring it to you as soon as we get it right now what we can tell you is that the gbi has confirmed that four people have been killed nine people hospitalized in various hospitals across our region we know at least one person with a gunshot wound was taken to Grady hospital and we also know that one person each taken to Northeast Health Systems Barrow and Gainesville facilities so we know that that is at least some of the locations where some of these victims have been taken we are working to gather more information on where other victims have been taken and what their conditions are right now we're also working to learn more about who the people were who lost their lives as well as the suspect but again that is information that we are waiting uh to be confirmed from the gbi from the Barrow County Sheriff's Office and we'll of course keep you updated as we learn more hopefully within the next half hour or so from that Sheriff's uh news conference and you mentioned you know who the suspect is you know the big question too is if some of the reports are out there that this suspect is a teenager a juvenile then the question is how do they get the weapon you know where did the weapon come from who knew about this and I think there's a lot of those questions social media you know there's a lot of things out there before you post anything or you report it you know you got to make sure it's accurate because a lot of times we see a lot of false things being put out there in these cases but I think that's another big question because there have been some sources out there saying this is a teenager a juvenile do we we don't know if that student or that juvenile went to this school and again if that is in fact true how did this kid get the gun and you know we can ask why but I mean you know it goes to show you it can happen anywhere and at this point you know it's not always important at this moment but I think there are a lot of questions that have to be answered for that Community for those parents too and especially for the victims who as you know they're going to want answers to you know they sent their kids to school this morning and their loved ones know that that educators are out there staff members support staff are also a piece of a very big piece of this and um again we are working to to learn more about who exactly uh was involved in this situation uh especially when it comes to those who lost their lives on a normal day and I did ask Serita about that you know it's there's all reports out there we've seen sourcing and you know she even told me like that her son said it's not just students there are faculty members not sure exactly you know their role at the school but it's not just students who were shot there are faculty members um among the victims inside that school and again I think it's just it's hard to wrap your head around especially it's the small communities uh that will forever be impacted and again also those First Responders you see all this response here you know you saw gwet County Sheriff's Office Gwinette County police state troopers I mean basically anybody that was within driving distance they heard that call go out because a lot of Times Dispatch does not have to dispatch those individuals they hear that call no one has to tell them to go you know those agencies went there and again every single hundreds of them knew driving there they weren't sure if they were going to be the first ones but they knew when they pulled up to that school what they were about to have to do and that's the other Heroes here because it could have went two ways for those First Responders unfortunately none of them were hurt and that'll be the story to how did they get this suspect well it's not always important I think it's it does show you they went there they engaged they likely saved lives and you know again sometimes it's easy to sit back here and question the response but I don't think you could have seen it cuz if you look at social media I mean from everywhere Jackson County Hall County people are like where are these is there a Chase and it was First Responders coming from different communities for one goal stop that shooter and save those kids lives and faculty members inside that school yeah Cody alorn for us tonight great perspective for us Cody thank you right now we want to get back out live to our Molly Oak who has been there outside the high school all afternoon so Molly I know you've been speaking with students and parents uh what's the latest for us yeah we have been talking with students for the past couple of hours as they've slowly but surely started to get released back into their loved ones arms I want to get straight to the sound that we heard from Camille here's what she heard inside the school well like um first how you doing I'm good um a little traumatizing it's not really something um someone should never have to go through um it's not something I ever want to go through um yeah it's it's traumatizing everyone was a lot of people were crying um were you one of them yeah I was one of them I was crying um I didn't want to die that way you heard her say I didn't want to die that way I also talked with a student who was in 10th Grade who said I thought I was going to die I was about to walk out of my classroom just moments before to go to the bathroom it's that scary thought that's starting to set in with students now hours later one girl said she heard the gunshots but it didn't even hit her that something was happening until law enforcement came in and told them to run outside that's the feeling here now I want to step aside cuz we are right across from the school so you can get a look at what it's feeling like and what it looks like out here still a really heavy law enforcement presence now we are getting some news from CNN they are reporting that appalachi high school did receive a phone call this morning that warned about shootings CNN is saying official are telling them that they are saying that this high school appalache high school got an earlier phone threat that's according to multiple law enforcement officials all coming from CNN now again we've been talking with students who heard those gunshots we've been talking with loved ones who are waiting to hear from their students I heard Cody mention this earlier but something to keep in mind out here not only with the mass amount of law enforcement and parents and loved ones and students is that these parents and loved ones are trying to get connected back to their students signal out here is rough texts are not going through phone calls are barely going through so that's just adding to an already heightened stress environment when you're talking about something so harrowing so awful happening going on you one can't get to your student you can't get to your child you can't get to your grandchild you can't get to your friend's child just to see if they're okay and you're not even being able to hear from them either cuz those texts and phone calls aren't going through some of the students also telling me that they didn't have their phones on them at the school or when law enforcement came in they had to leave their phones behind or weren't able to grab their phones so they're telling their parents there's a shooter but then they're not able to text them again because they left their phone in the classroom when they had to get out now once students were moved out of the school they were moved to the football field parents were telling me that I talked with a neighbor who came out to check on her friend's child you talk about the community feel out here that neighbor heard from her friend the friend was saying there's a shooting at my kids school I'm an hour way how quickly can you get there that neighbor dropped everything she was doing to get to that student she was not able to pick that student up but she was able to go up to him check on him give him a hug make sure he was okay she was telling me that he was actually with the principal when the shots first came started firing and she said that the principal told him to run and not look back can you imagine hearing that as a child because just hearing it as a reporter talking to these folks has been incredibly emotional I cannot tell you the amount of hugs I have shared with people off camera when they're walking by us we're just asking them is your loved one okay is everything good and they're either saying yes thank God or I just got to speak with them or I just got to hug them and it is emotional out here guys there is this feeling of community of everyone just wanting to help because it was hard to get down here now the road has opened up a bit since we've been down here for hours now but when we first got here you had to park and walk that one neighbor telling me that she parked and walked 2 and 1/2 miles just to try to get as close as possible to lay some hands on these kids cuz you think about it it's one thing to get a text from your child or from your grandchild or from a loved one saying there's a shooter I'm okay it's a totally different thing to physically see your child to physically get to hug them now when we talk about the kids being out on the football field we've you've seen that they're still coming out from the football field it's been taking hours one of the folks I talked with whose loved one heard the shots they said they were able to check in on them on the football field but but that P that child had to stay out there because they were going to get questioned by the gbi so they said that that could take a couple of hours now it's been a couple of hours since I spoke with them but that's maybe one of the reasons why this is taking a little bit of longer than many people would have expected which of course always feels even longer when you're just waiting to see your kid again so it does sound like they're at least letting parents go up and reunite with the kids if they are still getting questioned and having to wait for a bit before they can actually be released and come home now some of the kids I was also talking to said they don't plan to come to school anytime soon they're still really processing this and trying to sit with this but again a really heavy presence here we're talking local state and federal here all coming in on this investigation and the entire Community really just hurting today guys understandably so our Molly Oak live for us at the school where she's been talking with students and parents all afternoon uh hearing story after Story uh many of those students who heard the gunfire some who were close by and and really saw what happened others just running for their lives not knowing what was going on as she mentioned there is still a large police presence there at appalache High School in Winder also there are still a number of students we saw a live shot about 30 minutes ago of I'd say maybe 30 or 40 students still on the track near the football field waiting to be uh reconnected with their parents as we have seen uh little by little that number uh go down as those parents have been showing up to the school for the last 5 hours and right now we are continuing to hear from our various local leaders we have a statement from Senator Reverend Rafael waro we want to show you right now from his response he says my heart breaks for the families of the victims at appalachi high school and every student and the entire Winder Community is in my prayers but we can't pray only with our lips we must Pray by taking action that coming uh from Senator Revan RAF on warno he went on to say until we Center the people and start a serious bipartisan conversation in Washington and state capitals across the country to advance popular Common Sense gun safety reforms the sad truth is it's only a matter of time before this kind of tragedy comes knocking on your door again that coming from Senator Reverend Rafael waro today in response to the shooting today at appalache high school we have also Jennifer heard today from a number as you mentioned a number of elected officials including Governor Brian Kemp Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens all the way up to the white house uh President Joe Biden issuing a statement along with his press secretary um speaking at the beginning of her conference her news conference earlier today a lot of statements a lot of prayers a lot of support but a lot of people saying you got to do more than that uh to prevent something like this from happening again as you're taking a look at some video from earlier today shortly after this all unfolded around 9:30 this morning when the first calls came in to police about shots being fired there at the high school shortly thereafter uh police responded and were able to engage with the shooter the suspect who we understand is now in police custody all right we want to get now to Dr Cedric Alexander he's the former decab County public safety Chief uh Dr Alexander can you hear us are you able to hear us all right Dr Alexander thank you so much for your time in in reaching out and speaking with us today on what is really a terrible day for the community in in Barrow County what kind of insight can you give us and share with us as local law enforcement there and and partners around the Metro Atlanta area are working to begin this investigation well yes this is still at the beginning of this investigation and hopefully we'll learn more here pretty soon uh when they do a press conference and give us more information around uh maybe as much as they're able to share around what occurred and uh the number of people that were injured and sadly the number of people that lost their lives as well you know here we are again uh at another school shooting here at a uh a public school or private school or any institution in this country and we seem to just cannot figure out what is it that we need to do to reduce the likelihood of these types of events so I think what you're going to here uh is what took place and hopefully they give us some timelines around some of this but this is going to be an ongoing investigation that involve uh local agencies there in Barrow County and of course throughout the state and from our federal Partners as well so I think uh here shortly we may learn more but this is a sad day for that Community for the state of Georgia and for this entire country uh and we are all upset and sick and by uh hearing these ongoing types of school violence where you have a shooter that do uh so much harm to so many people uh across this country and and in that Community as well we all are traumatized by it to be honest with you and we know a lot of times when shootings like this happen in particular uh where you have a lot of people impacted uh police don't tend to release a lot of information early on we know we're going on 5 hours into uh until this happened or from this happening and we still don't know know a lot uh explain the process of an investigation like this and why it may be a little slower to get some of that information out well certainly what you want to do when you have this type of a a horrible event to take place and I myself some years ago and I was chief of police there in De Cab County Georgia we had a school shooting and even though no one was severely injured or killed uh the impact was the same so when a chief or a sherff or someone in leadership position has to step out to the public and be able to share as much information as they can because number one the public needs to know as much as we're able to share as long as it does not compromise the uh Integrity of the investigation itself but certainly uh we may give limited information initially because everything is so fluid we know as much as we can we still could have a bad guy on the scene we still could have C casualties we just don't know or we could be fully engaged in a firefight uh so we just have to be able to be cautious uh so that we don't overstate uh what is taking place but as we learn more and more it becomes very important for law enforcement to share that with the community and communities understand that but you're not going to get away with not saying anything at all you have to be able to share some uh skeletal information and there more uh information is gleaned here again as long as it does not impact intergity of the investigation uh they are able to give the community more and more and hopefully by 4:00 this afternoon Eastern Standard time we'll know a little bit more than what we knew this morning yeah that is what we're looking forward to and and when we're talking about what we know so far we know that it isn't just Barrow County Sheriff Office we know that there are also state other municipalities in the federal government law enforcement arms that are also uh working to help in in this investigation uh what can you say about how these Partnerships come together because they're not the same but they're all working toward that same common goal they're all responding to the same situation sometimes at various times how does that kind of come together well you know if it happens in any jurisdiction certainly that local agency has uh control or command uh of that in that and that's scene uh subsequent help that comes from the state and the federal government is very important help in particular from neighboring agencies as well too you may need uh more police officers in order to set up a perimeter or uh or you may have to join uh your SWAT teams together depending on what the mission may be at that particular time uh you can may have to have additional esm uh EMS units available uh so if there are casualties or injuries you're able to extract them and get them the medical attention they need as quickly as possible but all these agencies serve a very important role in supporting each other and of course Federal Partners uh whether ATF FBI whomever play a significant role with the resources that they have available to them that they make available to all local agencies across the country when they're involved in these type of incidents Dr Alexander we appreciate your time I'm going to let you go but one final question is there anything that you think families and members of this Barrow County Community should keep in mind or remember tonight well let's all keep each other in our prayers and certainly keep that community in our prayers it's going to be a long recovery for that Community as it will be for the rest of us uh but let's keep them all in my prayers let's move forward and let's also make sure uh and I would encourage them to make sure to reach out to their elected officials more needs to be done around the accessibility of weapons uh in our communities across this country thank you for having Dr Cedric Alexander thank you so much for your perspective and your time today thank you right now you're taking a look again at some video from earlier today over the scene there at appalachi high school shortly after this happened this is a look at the sheer number of students who were there uh earlier this morning this is around uh 10:30 or so some 1900 students at the High School all shifted there to the football field waiting to be reconnected with their parents at last check about 30 or 45 minutes ago we saw that it was down to just about 30 or 40 students still waiting to be reunified with their parents we do know several schools in the area were on lockdown as a result of what happened at the high school including an elementary and middle school in the area we are still waiting to get an update on those schools whether the lockdown has been fully lifted and those students have been allowed to go home and we also want to reiterate information coming in from the gbi because there were some reports of additional shootings taking place at neighboring schools in the gbi says that is incorrect that is not factual information we understand right now that there is a lot of misinformation out there a lot of folks not knowing what to believe but we do know from the gbi tonight that reports of additional shootings following this one at appalache high school are incorrect we also know it's incorrect that the shooter has been neutralized we have been told by the gbi that the suspect is in custody and that person is alive so that's some new uh information or rather some confirmed information that we have from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as people are continuing to to look for any other sort of information that they can get tonight and hopefully in about 10 minutes or so we will get more information from the Barrow County Sheriff's Office they told us when they spoke earlier that perhaps around 4:00 we might get some new details we may have an opportunity to ask questions and so we are uh standing by for that and we will bring it to you live on air and online at 11alive.com and inside our 11Alive news app as soon as that begins we are also getting some new information coming in from our Zach Merchant who is at one of the hospitals telling us now confirmed that Northeast Georgia Health System now treating three appalache high school shooting gunshot victims uh two are at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow location again earlier he had told us it was one so now two at that Northeast Barrel location one is at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville location we also know according to him and the officials there at the hospital system that uh five patients have been self transported to Northeast Georgia Health Systems with what they're calling anxiety or panic attack symptoms related to the shooting so again these are not just people who were directly uh physically impacted but I guess you could say impacted uh by panic attacks anxiety and just a lot of stress and worry of this happening right now and these people having to take themselves or or another loved one taking them to the hospital as a result and we've been talking this afternoon about the lasting effects the Mental effects of those who have witnessed this we heard from our Cody alorn uh reporting speaking with a parent that their child saw blood and saw bodies in that school and so these are ramifications that you may not think about right away but we are seeing these ramifications play out as people are having to take other students who were a part of this and other people who were connected to this to receive treatment for as you said panic attacks and things of that nature and something you don't think about sometimes you know just so many impact impacts as Cody said people who are just worried they're fearful uh they have so much anxiety not knowing um maybe how their loved one is doing in the hospital and how this is going to turn out again we are expecting another update around 4:00 so any uh moment now in the next 5 or 10 minutes perhaps from the sheriff and other law enforcement we have been working our sources uh with the FBI and with other Georgia law enforcement trying to get more information but until we can confirm information uh we will not be bringing that to you because as you said Jennifer there's a lot of misinformation out there there's a lot of rumors out there uh but we want to give you the very latest and the very latest this afternoon in from the gbi is that we believe four people have been confirmed dead again that's what they've confirmed along with nine in the hospital and possibly more or who've been injured in some other type of way and we are showing you images right now that we have from our love and life Sky tracker earlier in today and you can see the sheer number of students who were evacuated from adeli high school taken out to the football field there and we understand from other visuals we've received later in the day that those numbers have dwindled down because they were allowing parents to be reunited with their students we heard from our Caitlyn Ross who spoke with a parent who was one of the first out there earlier today who was able to lay hands on his student that they were doing a process by which they were checking IDs before students were allowed to leave campus with an adult we've also heard from our other reporters including Molly Oak and Doug Richards out there on the ground that parents were parking and walking miles to try to get to the school just to see if their child was okay so a lot of parents out there going to Great Links to to check on their children and make sure they were all right after getting those initial reports from their students that something bad was going on today as our Cody alorn also joined us a short time ago he pointed out that this could take days to get to the bottom of some of these answers of course there's the initial investigation right what happened when it happened but then again if this was a young person this if this was a student perhaps or someone affiliated with the school uh how did they get a gun how did they get you know this situation those are answers we may not have for some time now police want to interview of course uh victims they want to interview family members they even want to perhaps interview parents uh who were involved and so there's a lot to get to and that is why you are still seeing a very large police presence at the school while a lot of the students have gone home and reconnected with their families we still have seen dozens of law enforcement there on campus and we have been told earlier by some family members out there on the ground that some of those students were being interviewed to day speaking with officials and investigators from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as part of their efforts to figure out what took place here some of those students being kept on campus to answer questions about what they saw what they heard before they were able to be released so that is just one piece of this investigation that is already underway speaking with those student Witnesses and I'm sure staff members and Educators on campus as well we are expecting in the next 3 or four minutes hopefully to hear from the sheriff in Barrow County hopefully get some questions answered and bring you that information we will bring it to you live on air and online at 11alive.com and inside our 11 live news app as soon as that begins but we are watching and standing by um to see if and when that takes place yes we will be right here as we get ready for our 4:00 newscast we will continue to stay on top of this breaking news for uh the next couple hours or so as we are learning new information really uh every hour or so again the gbi confirming four people dead nine hospitalized transported to various medical facilities across the Metro Atlanta region we are working to get additional details we have Crews on the ground out at appalachi High School school we have Crews also stationed at various medical centers across Metro Atlanta and we will keep bringing you that updated information uh as well as from our crews here in The Newsroom who are working sources making contacts and trying to get that information confirmed for you tonight the news continues right here on 11 alive and on our 11 live news app and on 11alive.com and we explain how you may unknowingly slow down firefighters by limiting access to SI to fit them all in you need a team with the experience knowledge and results it takes to win for you that's the strong arm proud partner of the Atlanta Braves bounc from one doctor to the next does it have to be like this at Kaiser Permanente we have a different kind of healthcare so how did you like that where all of us work together for all that is you introducing Zach's new chicken finger tacos one with Pico and creamy chipotle ranch and the other with bacon and avocado ranch chicken experts since 1990 taco expert since now woo Saucy [Music] [Music] Zach do what you want to do I'm Attorney John Foy after you've been injured you need to team with the experience knowledge and history of results it takes to win for you that's the Strongarm proud partner of the Atlanta Braves time and temp sponsored by Disney's The Lion King at the Fox Theater October 2nd through 20th 11 live news at 400 p.m. starts now and we continue to follow breaking news at this hour at 4:00 at least four people are dead after a mass shooting at appalache high school according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and here's what we know right now an additional nine people were taken to area hospitals with injuries and the suspect is alive and still in custody we have been covering this ever since reports of that shooting started coming in just after 9:30 today that's right so to give you an idea of where exactly this is happening we're talking about appalache high school this is in Barrow County about 45 miles away from Atlanta about an hour depending on what the traffic is like and tonight we do have team coverage we want to start with 11 Alives Ron Jones who is live for us at the school Ron we know that there's information coming in we did just hear that a press conference is supposed to be coming down here in about a half hour 4:30 yeah we're monitoring that situation right now Faith but I tell you I just can't imagine I'm I'm a dad I'm a grandpa I can't imagine getting that call can't imagine getting that text from family and friends maybe the student maybe your child maybe teachers or or maybe you have a staff member that works here at appalachi high school and you're wondering is everything okay and so my heart goes out to them a lot of prayers for them as well as we were walking up here to the high school we saw a line of folks who were uh these were mainly were parents and their children they were walking down the street about a mile away from where their cars are parked everyone's looking down everyone's sad we saw tears as well and understandably so right for you to get this type of message especially when you learn later on that four people have been confirmed dead multiple people injured at the same time so of course you're going to be concerned not only just for your child but you're going to be concerned for the other students as well and those parents too now let me just set the scene for you being a former law enforcement officer I know that this entire High School is considered a crime scene so there's a heavy police presence behind me they have to go from room to room process each room I don't care if it's a classroom or if it's a custodian closet they still have to process the entire high school before they can actually uh continue with their investigation we have live team coverage right now Molly oi got here just moments after those shots were fired Molly what can you tell us Well Ron from the outside you know we have seen dozens and dozens of law enforcement not only right outside the school but all the way down for blocks I mean people were telling me they had to park their car miles away just to get anywhere close I want to step aside so you can see what we're seeing right now we are right outside of the high school and guys from someone who's been out here for hours this law enforcement presence has not dwindled now this is what's happening on the outside also been talking to to students here's what they say happened inside the school I heard like screaming and police officer like get down put your hands on your head it was crazy and then um when they were clearing their building like the rooms cuz you know sometimes the shooters hide amongst the kids they were clearing our room and they busted the door and they had a AK at us like telling to put your hands in the air it was really crazy you just never know what's going to happen what was going through your head when all that I thought I was going to die and I was going to go to the bathroom right before it happened and I'm so glad I didn't cuz I would probably be dead right now if I did there are so many questions still surrounding this so many unanswered things that people are waiting to hear now some of those questions the parents wanted to hear is just is my kid okay can I take them home now they're starting to get those answers now but they're still asking me how did this happen why did this happen who's behind this those are what we're still working to learn right now the gbi did just confirm with me that there will be a press conference in about 30 minutes that should give us a lot more information Ron okay and we're going to be on top of that by the way I just can't imagine if you're 14 15 16 17 18 years old and you have to see what you saw and hear what you heard as well uh as we pointed out there are some folks who were injured right now we're going to go to Erica Murphy she's live right now at Grady hospital where one person has been taken there Erica that's right Ron as the after afternoon wears on we're learning more and more details about this shooting at appalachi high school I'm here at gritty hospital where we know at least one of the victims from this high school shooting has been brought now we do not know the condition or the extent of the injuries of the person who was brought here but around 1:30 I did see more medacs that landed here at Grady earlier I saw two gbi agents pull up and gray uh Chevy tahos I went over and I spoke with one of those agents who confirmed that they were there to see the victim who'd been brought here now just before we went live I would say maybe about 20 minutes before we went live those two gbi agents that I spoke of earlier they did leave the hospital so I think they got what they needed from that victim I did reach out to hospital officials to confirm if those two additional medacs that I saw were bringing more victims from that shooting to the hospital as soon as I get a response from them of course I will share that information with you back to you Ron all right Erica thanks a lot by the way Zach Merchant right now he's at Northeast Georgia Medical Center where another victim has been taken there Zach what can you tell us Well Ron you're right we are in the uh Winder location of the Northeast Georgia Medical Center you can see it behind us and just in the last roughly 45 minutes we got an update from a hospital system spokesperson this is what he tells us there are now two gunshot victims from today's appalache high school shooting being treated here at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow location that's up from one victim just a little while earlier today the spokesperson says an additional third victim is being treated at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center's Gainesville location that location is a level one Trauma Center good news here though the spokesperson says all three of the victims being treated within the Northeast Georgia hospital system have non-life-threatening injuries now right across from the hospital in the parking lot where we are standing is an auto shop and in that auto shop are two young men they just turned 18 Ashton Hopkins and Christian Kenna both of them just graduated from Winder Barrow High School which is another local Barrow County High School they were also that High School on lockdown earlier today as a precaution there was no active threat there but both Hopkins and Kenna say they know plenty of people in the Appalachia High School Community here is a little bit of what they told us this afternoon I I hope I don't see anybody's name names that I I know were recognized on that list and I'm I'm hoping you know the people's families and just because whenever stuff like this happens it just there's a domino effect you know what I mean it's it's just more more bad bad bad cuz me personally when stuff like this happens it makes me scared for my own security knowing that this could happen to just anybody at any time no matter what this just makes me scared for number one America's future number two the general public at the moment and you talk about just what a a close-knit small community this is Christian says he's got a younger sister who is still at Winder Barrel high school she was on lockdown herself today Christian says she's all right but it's hard to imagine just how scary how terrible that situation would have been for her and the hospital spokesperson he says they're seeing the impacts of that as well in addition to the three gunshot victims they're treating he says the Northeast Georgia Hospital hosital system has seen five patients check themselves in with what he says are anxiety or panic attack related symptoms related to today's high school shooting for now we are live in Winder Zack Merchant 11 live news all right Zach thanks a lot for the update there I can't imagine going from zero to 100 that stress level there especially these young kids as well so stand by everyone our team is going to be standing by here we're going to have an update from gbi at 4:30 they're going to have a press conference because we want to know who's behind the shooting what is the motive for that shooting and we'll bring you the very latest coming up here uh as soon as we can back to you guys in the studio were we are all waiting for those answers Ron before you go I do want to ask you this we're going on now 6 hours since those first calls came in about the shooting we can see behind you a pretty significant police presence uh earlier today it was just incredible the amount of law enforcement there can you describe sort of the scene still there tonight are you still seeing parents uh a lot of law enforcement what's kind of going on around you well you know you can't see behind me but we did see a a train of parents who were walking down the street trying to make their ways back way back to the car but keep in mind anytime you have an active shooter situation you're not just going to have one agency that's going to show up verl county is not just going to show up but you're going to have multiple agencies they're going to show up they're going to be they call that Mutual Aid where they're trying to help out the other agencies and they've already had this plan in place so as I pointed out at the top of the broadcast there is an army of law enforcement behind me and they have to process the entire High School not just a section not just where the shooting occurred but interior part of that High School the exterior part of the high school and as Molly pointed out La enforcement is going to be here for quite some time exactly what the sheriff said our Ron Jones thank you so much thank you so much Ron and so many unanswered questions still like Ron was saying we are expecting a press conference to come down at 4:30 that will answer hopefully a lot of the questions that so many people still have how long did it take law enforcement to get there was this just one shooter or many shooters we do have some new information um from NBC news reporting that the suspected shooter is a teenager multiple senior law enforcement officials telling NBC News this police are still trying to determine with certainty the individual's name and whether or not they had a prior affiliation with the school so that is information that we're getting right now but again we are hoping that the gbi will give us some more concrete information at 4:30 any moment now and we of course are going to continue to stay on top of this story we'll take a quick break and be right back how does care first Blue Cross Blue Shield build healthier communities with accessibility at DC prep we help students from DC's underserved communities achieve their dreams through access to strong academics and social emotional education so we need a healthcare 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