Stating the need to “ban assault weapons,” the White House has called on the Congress “to do something” after four people, including two students, were killed in a shooting incident at a high school in the US state of Georgia.
After extending condolences to those affected by the high school shooting, White House Press Secretary Jean-Pierre said, “We need universal background checks…We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, invest in prevention programs, and pass a national red flag law.”
Two students and two teachers were killed while nine others were wounded at the shooting incident at Apalachee High School in Georgia on Wednesday, authorities said.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris has condemned the shooting incident as “outrageous.”
“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,” Harris said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.
In a message posted to social media, former President Donald Trump also said: “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
One suspect, a 14-year-old student, was alive and taken into custody following the gunfire at the school, Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Chris Hosey said at a news conference late Wednesday afternoon.
The suspect surrendered to law enforcement immediately after being confronted, Hosey said. He was cooperating with authorities and will be charged with murder and handled as an adult, according to Hosey and Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.
“He gave up, got on the ground and the deputy took him into custody,” Smith said.
Authorities were still looking into how the suspect obtained the gun used in the shooting and got it into the school.
The investigation was still “very active,” Hosey said.
A motive was unclear. Smith said he was not aware whether the victims were targeted or whether there was a connection between the shooter and the victims.
The school shooting was just the latest among dozens across the US in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas.
The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to active shooter drills in classrooms. But they have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.