 "'A senseless tragedy': Harris, Biden condemn Georgia high school shooting, call for end of gun violence in US")
US Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the devastating shooting incident at a high school in Winder Georgia. While addressing a campaign rally in North Hampton, New Hampshire, the Democratic Presidential nominee described the incident as a “shameless tragedy” and insisted that “we (Americans) have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country”.
The proclamation from the vice president came shortly after 14-year-old Colt Gray was charged with going on a shooting rampage and killing two students and two teachers at the Apalachee High School in Winder. Not only this but at least nine others were rushed to a nearby hospital after getting injured in the attack.
Before she commenced her speech about her economic agenda, Harris went off script to address the situation. She shook her head and called the shooting incident “outrageous”. “We’re still gathering information about what happened, but we know that there were multiple fatalities and injuries, and our hearts are with all the students, the teachers and their families,” she said.
“Of course, we are grateful to the first responders and 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, parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” she furthered.
Biden issues a statement
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden also issued a statement over the matter and extended condolences to the families of the victims. “Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed," he said in the Wednesday statement.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“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 added before calling on Republicans to “finally say ‘enough is enough’”, and pass more gun control legislation.
Ending this gun violence epidemic is personal to me.
— President Biden Archived (@POTUS46Archive) September 4, 2024
It’s why I signed the most meaningful gun safety bill in decades, announced dozens of actions, and established the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
We’ve made progress, but this crisis requires even more.
During the Wednesday rally, even Harris reiterated the assertions made by Biden about gun laws in Georgia and across the United States. “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," said the visibly frustrated vice president.
Georgia shooter was on FBI radar since 2023
Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, just revealed that Gray has been on the FBI’s radar since last year, when he was interviewed in connection to online school shooting threats. “In May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received several tips about online threats to commit a school shooting — with the harrowing remarks including photos of guns,” the Federal investigative authority said in a statement.
The statement noted that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office located Gray, then just 13, and interviewed him and his father. Gray’s father said that the teenager had a hunting gun in the house — but Gray didn’t have unsupervised access to them, according to the statement.
At that time Gray denied making online threats. Officials, however, alerted local schools “for continued monitoring” of Gray, per the statement. Following the Wednesday incident, the officials said that the suspect surrendered quickly as officers, including two school resources officers, entered the campus and confronted him.
With inputs from agencies.
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