Atlanta, GA
A 14-year-old student fatally shot 4 people in a rampage at a Georgia high school, officials say
A 14-year-old student opened fire at a Georgia high school and killed four people on Wednesday, authorities said, sending students scrambling for shelter in their classrooms — and eventually to the football stadium — as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe.
The dead were identified as two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta. At least nine other people were taken to hospitals with injuries.
The words “hard lockdown” appeared on a screen in junior Layla Ferrell’s health class and lights began flashing. She and her frightened classmates piled desks and chairs in front of the door to create a barricade, she recalled.
Sophomore Kaylee Abner was in geometry class when she heard the gunshots. She and her classmates ducked behind their teacher’s desk, and then the teacher began flipping the desk in an attempt to barricade the classroom door, Abner said. A classmate beside her was praying, and she held his hand while they all waited for police.
After students poured into the football stadium, Abner saw teachers who had taken off their shirts to help treat gunshot wounds.
Two school resource officers encountered the shooter within minutes after a report of shots fired went out, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said. The suspect, a student at the school, immediately surrendered and was taken into custody. He is being charged as an adult with murder.
Authorities were still looking into how the suspect obtained the gun used in the shooting and got it into the school in Barrow County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta. At an afternoon news conference, officials would not say what type of gun was used.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith choked up as he began to speak during the briefing. He said he was born and raised in the community and his kids are in the school system.
“My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community,” he said. “But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. I want that to be very clear and known. Love will prevail over what happened today.”
It was the the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. 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.
Before Wednesday, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
Last year ended with 217 deaths from 42 mass killings, making 2023 one of the deadliest years on record for such shootings in the country.
On Wednesday in Georgia, sophomore football player Jacob King said he had dozed off in his world history class after a morning practice when he heard about 10 gunshots.
King said he didn’t believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yelling at someone to put down their gun. When his class was led out, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be an injured student.
Ashley Enoh was at home in the morning when she got a text from her brother, a senior at Apalachee High: “Just so you know, I love you.”
When Erin Clark, 42, received a text from her son Ethan, a senior, saying there was an active shooter, she rushed from her job at the Amazon warehouse to the school. The two texted “I love you,” and Clark said she prayed for her him as she drove.
With the main road to the school blocked, she parked and ran with other parents. They were directed to the football field, and amid the chaos, Clark found Ethan sitting on the bleachers.
Clark said her son was writing an essay in class when he first heard gunfire. He worked with his classmates to barricade the door and hide.
“I’m so proud of him for doing that,” she said. “He was so brave.”
“It makes me scared to send him back,” Clark said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Traffic going to the school was backed up for more than a mile as parents tried to get to their children. Barrow County schools will be closed for the rest of the week as they cooperate with the investigation, but grief counseling will be available.
“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,” Vice President Kamala Harris said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.
In a message posted to social media, former President Donald Trump said: “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement: “This is a day every parent dreads, and Georgians everywhere will hug their children tighter this evening because of this painful event.”
The FBI’s Atlanta office said its agents were at the school “coordinating with and supporting local law enforcement.”
Apalachee High School has about 1,900 students, according to records from Georgia education officials. It opened in 2000, and is named after the Apalachee River on the southern edge of Barrow County, according to the school system.
The shooting had reverberations in Atlanta, where Mayor Andre Dickens said patrols of schools were beefed up.
In Winder, Abner said that when she goes home Wednesday night, she hopes to avoid thinking about those terrifying moments in her geometry class.
“I’ll probably not think about it, even though it happened,” she said. “Just think happy thoughts, don’t think about it anymore.”
Sophomore Shantal Sanvee, who was in a classroom near the gunshots, said “I saw, like, a whole lot of blood. And it was just, it was just horrible.”
“I don’t think I want to be here for like a long time now,” she added.
As an officer led students towards the stadium, freshman Michelle Moncada was in tears. People she knew had been shot, and she saw one friend on the floor who had been grazed by a bullet.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Moncada said.
___
Associated Press journalists Sharon Johnson and Mike Stewart in Winder; Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; and Charlotte Kramon, Kate Brumback and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.
Atlanta, GA
Habitat for Humanity building a legacy by transforming former Atlanta skate park into neighborhood
At Langston Park in Sylvan Hills, a once-abandoned eight-acre skate park is being transformed into a new community.
Over the course of a single week, over 700 volunteers are working alongside future homeowners to build 24 homes as part of a major Habitat for Humanity effort.
Habitat for Humanity hasn’t constructed a development in Atlanta since 1988.
For Chip Carter, the project carries both personal and global meaning. His parents, former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter, began their work with Habitat for Humanity in 1984, helping elevate the organization into a worldwide mission. Over the past 50 years, Habitat says it has helped more than 65 million people access new or improved housing.
Homes are sold without interest and built largely through volunteer labor, helping keep costs within reach. That matters in a city like Atlanta, where housing affordability has become increasingly strained. According to JPMorgan Chase, the share of median income needed for a monthly mortgage in the city jumped from 25 percent to 41 percent in just five years.
Habitat homes aren’t giveaways. Applicants go through years of screening, including financial reviews, background checks, and proof of steady employment and income. They also complete more than 250 hours of training to prepare for the responsibilities of homeownership.
“This is a much bigger deal,” Carter said. “To have a place to sleep is a big deal. And not having to pay rent — when you put money into it, you get to build equity.”
For Langston Park’s future homeowners like Lauren Clarke, that path to ownership is anything but automatic. Clarke, a University of Georgia graduate and single mother of twin 5-year-olds, has been living with her parents while searching for stable housing.
As she helped to hammer nails into the wall siding, Clarke professed, “It makes me feel strong. I feel strong today.”
For her, the opportunity represents more than just a roof over her family’s heads.
“When you buy a house, it gives you a sense of pride — in the best way,” she said. “Maybe we can keep that going generation to generation.”
Sixty-eight families are expected to begin moving into the homes by the end of the summer, and there are plans to expand the development in the next few years.
The Atlanta Braves have been the best team in baseball, and it’s not even close. The club is off to a 25-11 start with 8 1/2 game lead over second place. It’s been speculated year after year that the Braves were finally due for a breakout, though they’ve never met those expectations until now.
A Miraculous Championship Moment
Atlanta won the World Series just five years ago. You wouldn’t think it with how the club has played in the years since, but this team went on a miracle-run in 2021. The Braves only won 88 games in the regular season, but it was enough to win a middling National League East.
Ronald Acuña Jr. posted his best season since his 2018 Rookie of the Year campaign with a .283/.394/.596 slash line and 24 home runs. Freddie Freeman batted .300 with 31 longballs on the year. Even Austin Riley swatted 33 balls out of the yard. It was a stacked crew. The fact they only won 88 games is ridiculous in and of itself.
Atlanta bested the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS (3-1) before defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers (4-2) to make it to the World Series against the Houston Astros. This was a ridiculously good Astros club. Houston won 95 games to claim the top spot in the American League West. One of the major pieces of that club was their stellar starting rotation. Made up of Luis Garcia, Zack Greinke, Lance McCullers Jr., José Urquidy and Framber Valdez, it was a beautiful thing to see the Braves defeat them in six games.
With key homers in the postseason from Jorge Soler (World Series MVP) and Eddie Rosario (NLCS MVP), the Braves eked their way to a World Series championship. They are the club that proves that getting hot at the right time is what matters most in a postseason run.
The Moment Passes, Falling Short Each Year Since
Despite making the postseason three consecutive years after 2021, the Braves didn’t make it farther than the NLDS. Atlanta won 100-plus games in 2022 and 2023 but disappointed in the postseason, losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in both instances. They only won 89 games in 2024 but still managed to make the playoffs. Atlanta ended up getting swept in the NL Wild Card by the San Diego Padres.
But, in 2025, the Braves missed the postseason entirely. They finished fourth in the NL East with only 76 wins. It was a ridiculously poor season for an Atlanta team with much higher aspirations and expectations.
A lot of that was due to injuries and absences from the planned roster. Jurickson Profar served an 80-game suspension for PED usage. Acuña was sidelined with hamstring and Achilles injuries. Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep all missed significant time, forcing Atlanta to piece together their starting rotation.
But, beyond that, the offense struggled mightily. Despite having four players mash 20-plus homers (Matt Olson, Acuña, Marcell Ozuna and Michael Harris), they failed to actually win baseball games due to their middling starting rotation.
Heading into 2026, the problem for Atlanta was that they didn’t make a single defining move this offseason to fix that. Their only real addition was bringing former Padres’ closer Robert Suarez to be the setup man for Raisel Iglesias. That has mostly fixed the Braves’ bullpen problems, alongside their myriad injuries not being a major issue thus far.
More than that, starting left fielder Profar is now serving a full season suspension after testing positive for PEDs yet again. Adding insult to injury (literally), a preseason injury to shortstop Ha-Seong Kim put a damper on Atlanta’s hopes for their 2026 offense.
Outpacing Expectations, Holding onto Top Spot
The Braves are on track to win 112 games. If they manage to accomplish that, it would be the most games Atlanta has ever won in franchise history. That’s due, in large part, to an all-around effort from the club.
The Pitching Finally Looks as Dominant as Billed
Across MLB, the Braves’ pitching staff ranks second in opponent batting average (.216), third in ERA (3.25) and fourth in WHIP (1.16) and runs allowed (129). The only rotation in baseball that has been better is the Dodgers. Chris Sale’s return to form has been a wonderful development for the club (2.14 ERA, 42.0 IP). Reynaldo López has pitched well (though not incredibly) with a 3.28 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. But the real story has been Bryce Elder’s breakout. The righty leads the club with a 1.88 ERA across his first seven starts.
Yes, the departure of Spencer Schwellenbach for most of the season hurts. But Spencer Strider is back (although off to a rough start after giving up three runs in just as many innings (3.1 IP). This rotation has been, and looks like it will continue to be lethal.
An Offense That Won’t Quit
The craziest part? The rotation isn’t even the best part of Atlanta’s season. The offense is. The Braves rank first in every major category except for on-base percentage with a .275/.341/.468 slash line and an .809 OPS. They’re second in MLB in home runs with 54. It’s hard to argue with numbers like that.
That offense has been buoyed by incredible performance after incredible performance. A resurgent Olson is batting .300 with 12 home runs and a 1.047 OPS. Drake Baldwin is showing zero signs of a sophomore slump, batting .313/.392/.531 as the club’s primary backstop. Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II are finally breaking out alongside the emergence of Dominic Smith as an offensive threat. Acuña’s been slumping, that’s true, but it hasn’t even mattered with how much every other player has contributed.
There’s still questions of depth should injuries plague this club like they did in the past. The true test will be in the second half of the season. Can this Braves club make it through the dog days of the summer? Maybe. It would be great to watch this Atlanta team finally meet — and even exceed — the expectations set for them. Only time will tell.
The Atlanta City Council is working to form a 404 Day Advisory Committee following the shooting death of a 16-year-old girl at this year’s celebration.
The committee would be made up of city council members, community leaders, business owners, and various city department employees.
“We want folks to enjoy our parks. We want all folks to be safe in the city of Atlanta,” said City Council Member Andrea Boone.
The committee is asking for public feedback to evaluate what went wrong on 404 Day and to determine what needs to change.
“We want to hear from you. We want to know what are your concerns, what are the planning concerns, what do the business think? How should we exit and entrance the events,” said Boone.
Sixteen-year-old Tianah Robinson was shot and killed at Piedmont Park during this year’s celebration. She was an innocent bystander, according to police.
A month after her killing, authorities have not named a suspect in the case, despite requests from the public for help with the investigation.
“I remember her just being one of the most innocent persons in the world. Just pure kid,” said Martell Ellis, Robinson’s cousin.
Robinson’s family has been outspoken in calling for improvements in safety at city events like 404 Day.
“I want everybody to remember this is one of Atlanta’s best little people. We lost Atlanta’s best, a nd she had such a promising future, so we have to make sure this doesn’t happen again, we gotta make sure this was not in vain,” said Ellis.
The 404 Day Advisory Committee will meet for 180 days before presenting its findings and proposals.
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