AAs more details emerge about the shooting at a Georgia high school that left four people dead and at least nine injured on Wednesday, President Joe Biden and other elected officials are speaking out about the tragedy. Biden said, “We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Biden said: “Jill and I mourn the deaths of those whose lives were cut short by further senseless gun violence and think of all the survivors whose lives have been forever changed.”

The shooting occurred at Apalachee High School in Winder, about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta. The school was placed on lockdown Wednesday morning. A suspect has since been arrested, authorities said.

“After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation. We must once again ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, mandate secure storage of firearms, implement universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers,” Biden added.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke about the shooting at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon: “This week marks the start of the new school year for children across the country. Today should be an exciting day for students and parents, but instead we are witnessing another horrific shooting.”

She added that the administration’s “heart is with the families in Winder” and that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have both been briefed and will continue to work with state and local law enforcement.

Harris addressed the shooting at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, saying: “This is just a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies… 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.”

Harris’ running mate in the upcoming presidential election, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, spoke about the shooting at a meeting in Pennsylvania, according to the Washington Post. “This is tragic. We don’t know the details yet, but it’s a situation that happens all too often, and we’re in the middle of it right now,” he said. “Work must be done to prevent shootings like this in the future.”

Georgia State Representative Mike Collins, a Republican who represents the district where Apalachee High School is located, said he was “praying for the victims, their families and all the students,” in a statement on X.

Florida Representative Maxwell Frost also commented on the shooting on X: “We’re only a month into the new school year and we’re already seeing children running for their lives from classrooms that are supposed to be safe places,” he said. “It’s time to stop pointing guns at children – our communities deserve to live free of this senseless violence.” Frost was once the National Organizing Director of March for Our Lives, an activist group against gun violence that was founded after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Georgia Senator Raphael G. Warnock wrote in a long thread on X that we “can’t just pray with our lips—we must pray with our actions,” and that without appropriate bipartisan action, “it’s only a matter of time before a tragedy like this comes knocking on your door.”

“We don’t have to live like this,” he wrote.

This is an evolving story.