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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Officials: Four Dead, Nine Hospitalized After Georgia School Shooting; Biden, Trump & Harris Respond To Georgia HS Shooting; Two Students & Two Teachers Dead In Georgia School Shooting. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 04, 2024 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Just a jarring image in Winder, Georgia, today. This is just east of Atlanta. You see there, students in a prayer circle outside Appalachia high school. This is moments after a mass shooting in their school.

[16:00:01]

Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

The breaking news today is that four people were killed and nine others were taken to local hospitals, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. We're currently standing by for a news conference set to begin any moment now.

Authorities say that a suspect in this mass shooting is in custody. He is described as a 14-year-old male, according to law enforcement sources. I want you to take a moment to listen to one of the students describing the moment she realized something had gone horribly wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANICE MARTINEZ, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I heard screaming in everything out first, I thought it was like someone does like playing around in the hallways or something. I thought it was like someone just yelling or something. So I didn't think much of it, but then it got harder, the noise is getting louder and louder, and I was like, no, no guys, like I told everybody, get down, get down, because dislike you don't joke around with that, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's go right to CNN's Ryan Young, who is on the ground in Winder, Georgia, for us.

Ryan, tell us what are people there telling you about what happened?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, they're afraid. They're angry. They're still trying to process exactly what's been going on.

You heard in that sound just a second ago how so many students did not believe at first this was an actual shooting. Even right now, there's a stream of parents and students still trying to make their way back to their cars. Some people walk several miles to be able to pick up their students and I can tell you they are frustrated about all this. But at the same time, they are happy to have their hands on their loved ones.

Obviously, tonight, there are parents who are going to be dealing with a notification of losing a loved one. I talked to one student who actually witnessed his teacher gets shot in the leg and head teacher faded back into the classroom. He said the classroom start to scream and yell because they've realized someone they care for was injured. And apparently two doors down, somebody else was shot.

And so, you hear these stories over and over again. I can tell you the students tell me their teachers jumped in and did the best they could to not only barricade the doors, but to put them in closets, or to try to make sure that no one could get in.

And then we just got this video in recently. You can see some of the students moving through the hallways. I'll pause for a second as we play this. Our Isabel Rosales was able to get this video. You'll see it as the students are walking through.

This plays out. Obviously, we've seen this happen across the country with the students have their hands up as sheriffs or police officers are trying to escort them outside. It's the nightmare that no parent wants to see when you there's video being played.

But these are the ones who were lucky enough to walk out alive. And then on top of that, they were all taken to the field and then several students were interviewed for several hours about exactly what happened.

But the one thing that I do know and I can tell you this, student after students that they heard six to seven shots and they were very quickly a young man came up to me. He was only just coming to the school for the first time. He said one of his friends he believes was killed in this.

And, of course, obviously we know next of kin still be notified, so were not releasing any of the names of the people that we believe may have been injured in this. But you understand the pain is real for high schoolers when young lady looking at immune since were an hour were outside the big city. There's no way something like this could happen.

Well, it did happen today. We talk about that news conference that's supposed to happen. It's just going to happen over here over my shoulder. We believe it can happen in the next 15 to 20 minutes or so.

Talking to sources, there's a lot of law enforcement in this area, so they're all gathering the notes and trying to put pieces of this investigation. You have the state investigators, the GBI, you also have the FBI here and we know the governor authorize all resources to come down to this area. And there's a perimeter around the school that stretches almost two to

three miles in either direction. So you understand the hard landscape has been for some people to even get close enough with the middle school being nearby. And parents being worried about exactly what happened here.

So, Jake, as this conversation continues to happen, people trying to figure out exactly how 14-year-old was able to make it into the school with a weapon and then open fire. So I've already asked a few people whether or not there are metal detectors at the school that has not been indicated yet about whether or not I was in place. We do believe there is video surveillance all over, so we know law enforcement been may have we ever to watch parts of this to see exactly what happened. And then we know that person is now in custody.

So all this is going to be worked out, will hope to get more information as this news conference happens, hopefully in the next 15 minutes -- Jake.

TAPPER: Ryan, you mentioned how one student with whom you spoke believes that it is a friend who was killed of the four people killed. Obviously, that's -- that's anecdotal. But do we have any indication or any suggestion as to the victims either the four who were killed or the nine who were taken to hospitals. Where -- are they all believed to have been students?

YOUNG: No, right now, I want to say that, but also, you know, we want to be cautious.

[16:05:03]

So the rumors that are going through these students and what they've been talking about have been rampant. One of the people I stopped and talked to was a member of the ROTC so he clearly understood what the gunshot sounded like. They all talk about the drills they were going through consistently at this school to make sure they were ready for school shooter. So that apparently went well.

And a warning sign actually went on their televisions to say, hard lockout. And so, outside of that, one student who said he watched its his teacher, fall back into the room after being shot in the leg -- yes, I know that young man thinks his friend is dead, but until obviously they identified, it's going to be hard to kind of like had a parse this out, especially since we know the hard job here of telling families that they lost a loved one after maybe they sent him to school today is still being done.

That notification process, there's still something that's happening and obviously we want to be pretty careful with trying to identify who may have been involved in this as of right now.

TAPPER: Yeah, absolutely.

All right. Ryan Young, thanks so much. We'll come back to you.

Let's bring in CNN senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She was a former assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security.

Juliette, thanks for joining us.

Multiple law enforcement officials are telling CNN that Apalachee High School had gotten an earlier threats on the phone this morning, warning that there would be shootings at five schools and then Apalachee would be first. What -- what more do we know about that?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: We don't know much more, and we don't know, obviously who the caller was. My suspicion, you know, just based on what happened that this was a person who wanted to create more destruction and also wanted it to be known that it was him, and went on this rampage.

The second possible theory is that there's more than one person involved, although the police have not been suggesting that yet. And the fact that the family unification has already occurred suggests that they think it's just him. I know this seems obvious to a lot of people, like, oh, they got, you know, they screwed up, they got a phone call and they didn't -- they didn't close the school.

Schools get phone calls like this all the time. It is one of them -- that's why I'm very much for prosecuting people who make these kinds of calls, whether often ingest. These kinds of calls are happening all the time. We have to learn what -- what did they think of it? What did they think it was? How often was this school getting them out? Before we can pass judgment on the school district.

TAPPER: We're told that officials are going to brief in a few minutes. We'll obviously bring that to our viewers and listeners live. What are some of the topics you want them to address?

KAYYEM: So, obviously, the access issue, you know, I'm curious about how accessible the school was, what was its risks environment? Had there been violence before what kind of -- it's a high school, what kind of metal detectors and others that were?

Obviously, the age, Jake. It's 14 years old. I was looking at the statistics. It's not -- it's not as unusual as we wish that school shootings are curbed by 14. But a mass shooting like this is very rare that a young age.

So then the third and important question is access to the gun. Everyone knows Georgia's gun laws are permissive. It's just -- there's no -- this isn't a political commentary. They are exceptionally permissive and that means that the parents or someone who had the gun made it either available to him or he took it from them.

We need to get more aggressive against adults who buy these weapons and make them accessible or allow them to be accessible to a 14-year- old. And I guess the last question, of course, is motive. Was this against a particular person, a classroom? What was his reason for doing it?

But you and I've been doing this long enough. Sometimes -- sometimes the motive isn't satisfying. It's just someone who -- who's gets guns and wants to use them in a violent manner, and we can blame mental health or whatever else, but it doesn't really get to why this morning.

TAPPER: Yeah. And for those who don't know, some parts of the country have safe storage laws meaning that there needs to be a trigger lock or the gun, the firearm needs to be stored in some sort of safe so that minors can not get the gun or anyone else cannot get the gun.

What is your assessment so far based on the limited information we have of the initial emergency response?

KAYYEM: I thought it was exceptionally quick, at least from what I know now, in terms of the two things we care about.

[16:10:01]

So, one is notification to both the students who are in harms way, but also the outside world.

The parents are going to come rushing to the school, seems to have been tested and planned that you at least minimize the harm. We're going to get a TikTok on the second question about sort of how did law enforcement do? We're going to get a TikTok sort of how long it took them to get there relatively soon.

And we have to see, you know, what -- how large was that gap in terms of both the police coming in and then emergency managers? Getting and paramedics getting the injured out. There's a lot of injured peoples. We don't know what the final count is going to be.

But look, we -- this is -- this is generation lockdown. These students that we're hearing from knew this drill, they may not have recognized it immediately and the teacher certainly know what to do. It is a necessary evil, given the environment that we're in, but I am curious about sort of that response time as we always are given, you know, given, that lives could be saved, the faster that law enforcement comes in.

TAPPER: It is heartbreaking to think that there are at least four families that said goodbye to their loved ones this morning as they headed off to school and we'll never get to speak to those loved ones ever again.

Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much. We're standing by to learn from authorities more information about this mass shooting and a Georgia high school.

CNN also has a crew at a hospital in nearby Atlanta where victims were taken. We're going to have much more of this breaking news story after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:15:42]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATTHEW STRICKLAND, PARENT OF STUDENT: I tried to get here as soon as possible. I mean, it's just -- it's crazy, something like this happens in such a small town, such small county. You just never know what's going to happen.

Whenever I first got the initial call, I just -- I really couldn't believe it, like it was just -- it's not something that you're -- I'm used to hearing every day, especially not from coming from a school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It was relieved father there finding out reasonably good news after today's mass shooting in Winder, Georgia. That's about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. His daughter is thankfully okay.

Tragically, four other families are learning the worst news imaginable that their loved ones were killed today in this mass shooting.

Let's go to CNN's Nick Valencia now. He's at Grady Hospital in Atlanta.

Nick, tell us what you're learning about the victim or victims that have been taken.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake, just one victim from the shooting and 45 minutes east of here, northeast of here, was brought here to the level one trauma center, Grady Hospital. For those in the Atlanta area, you're well aware of this hospital and all it does here.

I did just speak to the hospital staff and they told me that they're not going to release an update on the condition of that victim, citing HIPAA regulations. But we do know that there are other victims at other local area hospitals around here, Jake, that are also being treated.

TAPPER: Can you tell us anything more that you might know about the other victims?

VALENCIA: Yeah. There is a hospital just about an hour away from here, another trauma facility called Piedmont Regional Hospital, Piedmont Athens Regional, I should say. A source there with knowledge of the situation who's not allowed to speak to the media tells me that one adult victim was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the stomach and as of about an hour-and-a-half ago, they were in surgery.

That source also tells me a second victim was taken there. A younger victim described as a child, also with a gunshot wound. Not exactly clear on where they were shot or what their conditions are at this point.

You know, it goes without saying, during tragedies like these school shootings, we talked about those killed and those were injured by the gunshots. With their emotional scars that you know, students and teachers, those eyewitnesses are going to have to deal with. They're going to last all those sights, sounds, smells, everything that we've seen today. It's going to last for days, weeks to come, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Nick Valencia at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Nick, thanks so much for that.

That news conference from Winder, Georgia, is going to begin any moment we're told. We're going to sneak in a quick break and we'll bring you that update as soon as it starts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:47]

TAPPER: You are looking at live pictures. It's 4:22 p.m. Eastern Time in Winder, Georgia. Winder, Georgia, more microphones are currently getting set up. And we are standing by for an update from authorities and law enforcement on the unfathomably tragic scene there yesterday, a deadly mass shooting at Apalachee High School.

Former President Donald Trump just reacted moments ago to this deadly shooting in Georgia. He wrote on Truth Social, quote, our hearts are with the victims and loved ones to those affected by the tragic event in Winder, Georgia. These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster, unquote.

CNN's M.J. Lee is at the White House right now. Priscilla Alvarez is in New Hampshire with Vice President Harris.

M.J., President Biden released a statement, what did he have to say?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the president has been here at the White House, and of course earlier today had the all too-familiar experience of learning about another mass shooting has been briefed on this situation throughout the day.

White House officials here have been in touch with state and federal officials and this statement, he said that he and the first lady are mourning what he calls a senseless violence and the lives that have been confirmed to have been taken in the shooting. And he said: What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart. He said 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.

He went on to say that this is a personal issue for him and that Washington has to act. He said Republican members of Congress, in particular, must say the words enough is enough and pass additional bipartisan gun safety legislation including, of course, what he has been calling on for years and assault weapons ban and a ban on high capacity magazines.

And he pointed as he has in the past, to the fact that under his watch, a bipartisan group of lawmakers have passed gun safety measures in the past and that it is doable, but I do think that there is recognition as there always is even in the face of tragic events like this, that we saw earlier today that getting anything passed particularly out of Congress on this issue is going thank to be incredibly difficult.

[16:25:12]

That doesn't mean that we aren't going to continue hearing from the president on this. But again, I think there is recognition that this is a very challenging thing to get lawmakers to act on. But again, just another familiar day where again, we are hearing from White House officials, including the president and everyone on down. There has to be more action taken here in Washington, D.C., Jake.

TAPPER: And, Priscilla, Vice President Harris started her campaign event talking about the economy by commenting on the shooting. That is how she began.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake, and to a crowd that was shocked and surprise. Of course, the Wi-Fi and data here has been very spotty. So the crowd did not know about the shooting in Georgia, so she shared that tragic views saying that there had been multiple well fatalities and injuries, but then taking a step back to call the tragedy outrageous and say that it doesn't have to be this way. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 is -- we've 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.

But our kids are sitting in a classroom were 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 doesn't have to be this way.

And, you know, this is one of the many issues that's at stake in this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the vice president, of course, is the lead of the White House office of gun violence that has been reviewing any measures that can be taken by the administration without Congress, of course, very limited options at that.

Now, officials say that the vice president will be routinely updated over the course because of the day. But of course, Jake, remarks that were supposed to only be focused on the economy again, having to be re-top to talk about this tragedy today. TAPPER: All right. M.J. Lee at the White House, and Priscilla Alvarez,

who's travelling with Vice President Kamala Harris, thanks to both of you.

Any moment, we expect an update from officials on the ground there in Winder, Georgia, about 45 minutes away from Atlanta, Georgia. We're going to bring those comments to you live. The shooting of shocking incident in Apalachee High School. It happened near an elementary school and the news is obviously troubling for parents of young students there as well.

Our CNN affiliate WXIA spoke with a mother and a grandmother in the wake of the shooting. Here's their reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIENNE FRAZIER, PARENT OF STUDENT AT NEARBY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: It's unreal and it's unbelievable. And I'm so sorry to the, you know, families that this affected, but then this kind of, you want to know in the world like we got to crack down on certain things, like, because we're the parents with this type of stuff, you know?

JACKIE FRAZIER, GRANDMOTHER OF STUDENT AT NEARBY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: And for me in mental health is also the issue and you have children on social media. You don't know what what's happening as far as you know, are they being bullied? Are there things that are being said to them where, you know, they don't have an outlet, they don't have anybody to talk to. It's just hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:32:51]

TAPPER: Authorities are giving an update on the mass shooting at a high school in Georgia. Let's listen.

CHRIS HOSEY, DIRECTOR, GEORGIA BUREAU INVESTIGATION: And we wanted to come back this afternoon and present to you with a little more of a timeline of the events that have taken place here today and what we know of at this point with the investigation.

At approximately 10:20 a.m. this morning, the Barrow County sheriff's office received alert about reports of an active shooter and radio traffic from school resource officers concerning the same concern, or having the same concern. Within minutes, law enforcement was on scene as well as two school resource officers assigned here to the school who immediately encountered the subject within just minutes of this report going out.

Once they encountered the subject, the subject immediately surrender to these officers, and he was taken into custody. Additionally, what I want you to know as of now there are four individuals who are deceased from this incident, nine that had been taken to local hospitals with various injuries of those that it would are deceased, two were students in two or teachers here at the school.

The priority right now for us within this investigation is to gather all the facts, to make sure that we're accurate with it because this is a murder investigation. As the sheriff mentioned earlier this morning, the shooter is in custody. His name is Colt, that's C-O-L-T, Gray. He is a 14-year-old student here at the school, G-R-A-Y.

He is a 14-year-old student here at the high school. Again, he has been taken into custody. He is -- he will be charged with murder and he will be tried as an adult, and handled as an adult.

We are coordinating these charges and obviously this investigation with District Attorney Brad Smith because the district attorney for the Piedmont judicial circuit here.

Since early this morning, we talked, since the incident occurred, numerous interviews have been taking place through our investigation with students, faculty, as well as any other witnesses that we could identify.

[16:35:12]

Law enforcement had a very, very swift response to this incident once the incident was determined that there was a concern here. Those resources, whether it was a net response or throughout this investigation to assist, came obviously from the sheriff's office here from other local law enforcement agencies, state law enforcement agencies, and federal law enforcement agencies as well. To include not to be left out, multiple EMS personnel, multiple fire personnel and agencies, those agencies responded here as well today. And I am extremely grateful as I know the sheriff is for that quick response and the partnerships are working here together with what all is going on.

Currently from the investigative perspective, we have crime scene agents and other special agents from the GBI from close to a dozen of our different work units from across the state that have responded here today to work on this investigation. Again, collecting evidence, conducting interviews and so forth.

I do want to pass this along that if anyone has any information that wants to be passed on concerning this investigation, that they can do that anonymously at our tip line at 1800-597-TIPS, or 1800-597-8477. They can also report this by downloading the See Something, Seen Something app, that can be done by Android or Apple phones, either one, to -- if they need to report any -- any tips concerning this investigation.

Let me close out before I turn this over to the sheriff and let you just remind you that this is still a very active investigation. There is still a lot that is very fluid. There are still a lot of interviews to be conducted that will continue on into the night, as well as crime scene working, collecting and gathering evidence.

But what more -- is more important for me to mention here to you is my heartfelt sympathy to the parents, the students that were in -- that were here today, regardless of where they were in the school. This has got a great impact on them, as well as on this community.

My thoughts and prayers along with everybody standing behind me and every law enforcement agency in this state, in many I will tell you around this country, they are in our thoughts and prayers. And we will continue with that.

We ask for your patience as we continue through this and we'll continue to try to give you as many updates with information as we can to keep you informed. But thank you for being here.

I'm now going to turn it over to Barrow County sheriff Jud Smith. Thank you.

SHERIFF JUD SMITH, BARROW COUNTY, GEORGIA: Good afternoon. I'm Sheriff Jud Smith at the Barrow County Sheriff's Office.

I've never imagined -- I never imagined that I will be speaking to the media in my career over something that happened today. They're pure evil that happened today. I cannot thank the people behind me for the support they give me today to give this office and give this staff.

This hits home for me. I was born and raised here. I went to school in the school system. My kids go to the school system. I'm proud of the school system.

My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community, but I want to make it very clear that hate we will not prevail in this county. I want that to be very clear and known. Love will prevail over what happened today. I assure you that.

It is very early as to what happened. Governor Kemp reached out to me and has provided me every single resource that he has to make sure justice prevails. I don't know why it happened. I might not ever know. We may not ever know.

But I asked that you and our community lift up our schools, lift up our public safety and that again, we do not let this hateful event prevail as to what happened today.

I want to thank the surrounding agencies and counties and cities, and state and federal authorities have come and provided us because they prevented a lot of more tragic events from happening, continue to lift up these families, continue to lift up our students and our kids, and know that love will prevail.

At this time, I'm going to ask Dr. LeDuff, our school superintendent, to come and speak on behalf of the school.

DALLAS LEDUFF, SUPERINTENDENT, BARROW COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION: Good afternoon. I'm Dallas LeDuff. I'm the superintendent of Barrow County school system. I want to thank the Barrow County sheriff's office and all of our law enforcement partners for their swift response today, along with that of our staff.

I'll also like to thank our community for their response and patience, as we work to reunify students with their families here today, and secure the rest of our school campuses. Our schools will be closed for the remainder of this week as we cooperate fully with law enforcement to get answers to the many questions that we all have about this incident here today.

But as we are closed, our central offices will remain open while we will have grief counseling available for our community every day this week. And thereafter as we support each other through this terrible event.

In closing, I just want to say to our community, as a school system, we are here for you. We support you. And we are ready to get you any support that she may need as we grieve through this together. Thank you.

REPORTER: Sheriff, you're saying hate will not prevail in this community. Are you investigating this as some sort of hate crime?

SMITH: Well, shortly, if someone decides to take a firearm into a school where kids are given an education or entitled to an education and want to harm others, to me, it's hateful.

REPORTER: Sheriff, can you talk about the additional interaction between (INAUDIBLE) was able to stop the shooter? Can you describe that to us? How did it go down, what exactly happened for us?

SMITH: Obviously, the shooter was armed and our school resource officer engaged him. And the shooter quickly realized that if he did not give up, that it would end with an OIS, or an officer-involved shooting. He gave up -- got on the ground and the deputy took him into custody.

REPORTER: Sheriff, any idea weapon back inside the school? And was there any warning that this was going to happen?

SMITH: Not that I'm aware of. Again, very early and we're still looking into that, whether or not or how he obtained it and how he got it in the school.

REPORTER: Have you talked at all with his parents or his family to learn more about what led up to these moments?

SMITH: We have.

REPORTER: Any information you can share?

SMITH: No.

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: It seems like you have -- you seem like you have a large Hispanic population? Have you been able to communicate with the people in their language to make sure that everybody knows what's happening?

SMITH: Yes, sir, I have. The school -- the school and our office has people that speak in Spanish, and they have -- spoke to those folks as well? Yes. REPORTER: Sheriff, is the shooter speaking with the law enforcement now?

SMITH: Sorry?

REPORTER: Is the shooter talking and is he saying why?

SMITH: The shooter was interviewed, and he is he was speaking with our investigators early -- earlier, along with the GBI.

(CROSSTALK)

SMITH: It is -- it is helping our investigation.

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

SMITH: None that I'm aware of.

REPORTER: Were all nine injured victims shot?

SMITH: In some capacity, yes.

REPORTER: Sheriff, can you tell us about the two individuals, (INAUDIBLE) the one targeted.

SMITH: We don't know of any targets at this point.

REPORTER: Sheriff, what kind of weapon was used? Did they identify the weapon?

SMITH: We're not -- we have not identified that at this point. No. This is the last question I'm going to take.

REPORTER: Sheriff, is there a connection between the shooter and the victims?

SMITH: None that I'm aware of.

I know -- I know that you have a lot of questions about the student in there, we mentioned that we identified earlier. Keep in mind that that that's part of our investigation, that we're looking into every aspect of that individual, his connection here at the school. Obviously, as I mentioned earlier, he was a student here.

So as part of our investigation, we're looking into all aspects current and prior involving that individual.

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: Can you tell us how many rounds are fired?

[16:45:00]

SMITH: The shooter -- the shooter is a student. Yes. REPORTER: When can we expect the --

SMITH: We do not know how many rounds.

REPORTER: -- the shooter had any past history with law enforcement?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to -- for now, this is the information that we have and it is an active investigation. I assure you we will -- we do plan to come back out here in a couple of hours. Please make sure you're found the GBI X page. That's going to be putting the updates. If there's anything that's new, we'll make sure that we share that information is still very early. Investigators have a lot of work to do. We appreciate your patience.

Do expect another in-person news conference out here next few hours, monitor the X page and we will be sure to update you accordingly. Thank you.

TAPPER: You have been listening to law enforcement authorities and others in Winder, Georgia about 45 minutes east of Atlanta.

They were talking about today's mass shooting at Apalachee High School, the Georgia bureau of investigations confirmed that four individuals were killed, two of them were students, two of them were teachers, nine others were injured, wounded in the shooting, taken to local hospitals.

Authorities also say that the gunman was 14-years-old, a student at the school. This will be the first and last time I mentioned his name, Colt Gray, G-R-A-Y. That individual will be charged as an adult.

Let's bring back Juliette Kayyem, along with CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell.

Josh, a lot of information not provided. We don't know what kind of gun it was. We don't know how many rounds were fired. Tell us what the headlines are beyond the two teachers and two students killed.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, that was certainly important to learn what the make-up, the attributes of the victims were. But as you mentioned, is still a lot that we don't know about the actual incident. Certainly, the motive, and quite frankly, I wasn't expecting at this juncture are for authorities actually come out and start explaining anything that they've gleaned about a motive.

Sadly, as you and Juliette, myself, we've covered so many of these. They'll come out with statistics, so to speak about what transpired. But particularly if you have a suspect who was taken into custody, there is still a prosecution. And so we often see law enforcement hold a lot of information close to the vest because all of this has to hold up in court. They don't want to jeopardize that.

As we learn there, this juvenile, this 14-year-old, will be tried as an adult, which in the state of Georgia, for offenses, serious offenses like a capital offense involving murder, involving a potential death penalty, those will go to adult court. So we've got that detail.

But still a lot we don't know about the weapon itself. And, you know, that's key for me right now is how did a 14-year-old gain access to this firearm? We've seen in a number of instances, such as at Oxford High School, the shooters' parents there were prosecuted for their ability to help him get that firearm.

We also saw near Chicago, for example, the shooter of the Highland Park Fourth of July parade. That shooters father pleaded guilty to recklessness for allowing that child to get access to that weapon. So we will wait and see what happens here. How did this child obtain this weapon, and will anyone else be held responsible, Jake?

TAPPER: And, Juliette, we know the following about the shooter, we know that when the shooter was confronted by two school resource officers that's a law enforcement assigned to a school. He immediately surrendered realizing that he was going to be shot if he did not, and also that he has been interviewed by law enforcement, by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or GBI.

What else do you think is going on behind the scenes in terms of this actual shooter and his motive, however, twisted, it might be?

KAYYEM: Yeah. So a couple of things. I mean, the first is just on the chronology. It is clear that the school resource officers were the ones who really did minimize the harm. Already, four people are dead, but if they had not been on scene, it is not clear to me when law enforcement would have actually gotten there.

And they've -- in the press conference, they say that they followed up that essentially this was the resource officers. So, lots of debates about resource officers in schools. No one likes the idea that there is a lot of evidence that they can be very helpful when they are effective and trained and ready for the responsibility we give them.

Fourteen year old is young. It is not -- not totally new. I mean, it didn't -- 17 is your peak for school shootings in terms of students, then 16, then 18, then 14.

And so, you've got this and 14 to 18 year-olds who are committing of -- students who are committing school crime. So it seems very young to us, but it is -- it is in the realm of incidences before. So you're going to want to know from him or from him? His family what signs, right. What would trigger warnings, so to speak, might we -- might have been gotten or understood by the family? Had there been any outreach to warn people and then the last and Josh is saying is access to guns.

I am -- I find it inconceivable. They do not know what kind of gun it is right now. It is just ridiculous. They should have disclosed what kind of gun it was. I don't -- I don't like them playing games on that stuff.

TAPPER: Juliette Kayyem, Josh Campbell, thanks to both. You stick around. We are going to come back to. I do want to play some sound from a student who was in a classroom at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia when the gunfire erupted today. Listen to her account.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEE ABNER, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Then I hear the gunshots and everyone ducks, teacher is like flipping tables and stuff in barricading the door. So I was just scared out of my mind. I was like, what is happening because I was like, whoa.

And then I pulled up my phone. I texted my mom first and then a couple of my friends to see if they're okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: With me now is someone who unfortunately knows the pain of gun violence in this country all too well. Max Schachter, his son, Alex Schachter, was killed during the Parkland, Florida, massacre in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He is the founder of Safe Schools for Alex. The mission of Safe Schools for Alex is to provide schools with the best safety practices and resources to keep students safe.

Max, what goes through your mind when you hear there was once again, in the United States, yet another school shooting?

MAX SCHACHTER, FATHER OF PARKLAND VICTIM: I mean, first of all, my heart just breaks for the families of the students and the teachers. When they went to school, when the parents send their kids to school, they expected them to come home, like they had every other day. And no family should ever have their children or their staff members murdered in a school.

But, you know, what -- what goes through my head is obviously what we've done here in Florida post-Parkland. Florida leads the nation in school safety and obviously, I believe that those two who SROs that were at that school saved countless lives today. We've done that in Florida.

Every school, every public and charter school is required by law to have a minimum of at least one armed school safety officer. And then the other thing that is obviously evidenced is that were not going to be able to so to prevent all of these from happening. And when a gun comes on campus, nothing good is going to happen.

So what we have to do is what we've done in Florida is we focused on the best desk prevention method we have. The best tool we have is threat management.

All of these individuals that go on to become a school mass murderers, they all exhibit concerning behavior ahead of time. They don't just snap overnight. They all exhibit red flags, like the Parkland mass murderer, from a very young age.

So I think that we're going to see as we get in for more for information on this, this murderer is that, you know, there were telltale signs, there were red flags and that's why in Florida, we focused on -- we've got a threat management team in every school, in every district.

We have -- every district has a statewide threat management, every coordinator and we need to do that across the country. Every state needs to have a coordinator to focus on this and Florida in the last quarter of 2023, we train 3,000 personnel to identify concerning behavior, so that we can get these individuals, identify them earlier before they bring a gun on campus and get them off their pathway to violence.

That's the best tool we have. And if we can do that across this country, we can get to these kids before they start bringing and guns to school and doing these horrible things. And we can make school safer.

TAPPER: Let's talk about that, about the way to keep guns out of the hands of troubled individuals for want of a better term, who are a danger to themselves or to others.

I know one of the things that Florida did was I believe that the national age to purchase a handgun is 21, but to purchase a long gun in many states is still 18.

[16:55:11]

I think in Florida, that was raised to 21.

What other measures can be taken and what kind of flat red flags should teachers be on the lookout for?

SCHACHTER: Well, it's all a deviation of the baseline. So if you've got an individual that is dressing and he dressed normally and now he's dressing in golf (ph). That's a concerning sign. If you've got an individual that is very depressed, that is -- his social media, if they're posting pictures of guns online, that's the leakage.

All of these signs, if the teacher notices that an individual is extremely upset or we have to look at a lot of things. We've got to look at their behavior in school. We've got to look at what's happening outside the school.

So that's why it's important that they've got law enforcement involved. So are they are they drawing any anything online, they posting anything and all of this is all comes together. It's got to be a holistic approach. And that's why in Florida, we have these threat management teams.

So you've got -- number one, you've got somebody that knows that individual of potentially a teacher, you've got a school psychologist, you've got an assistant principal, you've got a law enforcement officer on this team.

So if an individual exhibits concerning behavior, if they're talking about obviously committing a school shooting, if there's an obsession with weapons, if there's an obsession with school mass murderers, obviously, if they're doing -- searching for all of these things online, past mass murders, these are red flags.

And then we have to look at what's happening outside of school, what's happening in their home life. You know, these kids, it doesn't just -- doesn't just happen in the four walls of the school. What was happening in this individual's life outside of school?

TAPPER: Max Schachter, the father --

SCHACHTER: You've got to take all this into account.

TAPPER: Max Schachter, the father of 14-year-old, Alex Schachter, who was killed in 2018 in the Parkland shooting, were showing a picture of him right now or what a beautiful boy. Max, thank you. And may Alex's memory continue to be a blessing.

The breaking news, four killed, nine others injured at Apalachee high school in Winder, Georgia, today. Of the four killed, two were students, two were teachers. This incredible horrifying act at the hands of a 14-year-old, according to authorities.

We're going to have much more reaction to this tragic day and breaking news, coming up.

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