WINDER, Ga. (AP) — A 14-year-old student opened fire at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, killing four people, authorities said. Students then desperately sought shelter in their classrooms — and eventually ran to the football stadium — as police surrounded the campus and parents raced around to see if their children were safe.

The dead were two students and two teachers from Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta. Two other 14-year-olds, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspenwall and Christina Irimie were killed, said Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, in a late-night press conference.

At least nine other people – eight students and a teacher – were taken to hospitals with injuries. All are expected to survive, said Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.

The words “hard lockdown” appeared on a screen in 11th-grade Layla Ferrell’s health class and lights began flashing. She and her frightened classmates stacked tables and chairs in front of the door to create a barricade, she recalls.

Second-grader 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 turning the desk over to barricade the classroom door, Abner said. A classmate next to her prayed and she held his hand as they all waited for police.

After the students streamed into the football stadium, Abner saw the teachers taking off their shirts to help treat the gunshot wounds.

Two school security officers met the shooter minutes after gunfire was reported, Hosey said. The suspect, a student at the school, immediately turned himself in and was taken into custody. He is being charged as an adult with murder. Authorities said the weapon was an assault rifle.

The teenager was questioned after the FBI received anonymous tips in May 2023 about online threats to carry out an unspecified school shooting, the agency said in a statement.

The FBI was able to isolate the threats and forward the case to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, which borders Barrow County.

The sheriff’s office interviewed the then 13-year-old and his father, who said there were hunting weapons in the house but the teen did not have unsupervised access to them. The teen also denied making any online threats.

The sheriff’s office advised local schools that the teenager needed to continue to be monitored, but there was no sufficient cause for an arrest or further action, the FBI said.

Hosey said the state Department of Family and Children Services also had previous contact with the teenager and would investigate whether it had any connection to the shooting.

Authorities were still investigating how the suspect obtained the gun used in the shooting and brought it to the school in Barrow County, a rapidly suburbanizing area on the edge of Atlanta’s ever-expanding metropolitan area.

At a press conference in the afternoon, Smith became emotional as he spoke, saying he was born and raised in the community and his children attend the school.

“My heart hurts for these children. My heart hurts for our community,” he said. “But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this country. I want that to be very loud and clear. Love will prevail over what happened today.”

It was the Latest among the dozens of school shootings in the United States in recent years, including particularly deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have sparked heated debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up with classroom shootings. But they have done little to advance national gun laws.

Before Wednesday there were 29 Mass murders in the United States this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in collaboration with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in these 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, 42 mass murders resulted in 217 deaths, making 2023 one of the deadliest years in the country for such shootings.

On Wednesday, Landon Culver, an 11th-grader in Winder, said he left his algebra class to get a drink when he heard gunshots and then saw someone wearing a black hoodie and carrying a long gun.

“I didn’t really stay long to look at it,” he said.

Instead, he ran back into the classroom and locked the door. The class crowded into the back in the dark and waited for the rampage to end. Culver heard shots ring out in the building.

“You just wonder which of these people is going to be your best friend or the one you love?” he said.

Police later arrived and escorted the students out. As they left the building, Culver saw “several people who had been shot.”

“You hear about these things, but you never believe it could happen to you until it happens.”

When Erin Clark, 42, received a text message from her son Ethan, a senior citizen, saying there was an active shooter, she rushed to school from her job at the Amazon warehouse. The two texted “I love you” and Clark prayed for her and him as they drove.

Since the main road to the school was closed, she parked and walked with other parents. They were directed to the soccer field, and in the midst of the chaos, Clark found Ethan sitting in the stands.

Clark said her son was writing an essay in class when he heard the first shots. He and his classmates barricaded the door and hid.

“I’m so proud of him for doing that,” she said. “He was so brave.”

“It scares me to send him back,” Clark said. “I don’t know what to do.”

Traffic to the school was backed up for more than a mile as parents tried to get to their children. Schools in Barrow County will remain closed for the rest of the week as they cooperate with the investigation, but grief counseling is being offered.

“It is simply outrageous that parents in our country, in the United States of America, have to send their children to school every day worrying about whether or not they will come home alive,” said Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign rally in New Hampshire.

In a message posted on social media, former President Donald Trump said: “These beloved children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who canceled a planned speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas and returned to the state, said in a statement: “This is a day every parent dreads, and because of this painful event, the people of Georgia will hug their children even tighter tonight.”

Apalachee High School opened in 2000 and has about 1,900 students, according to Georgia State Education records.

On Wednesday night, hundreds gathered at Jug Tavern Park in downtown Winder for a vigil. Volunteers handed out candles as well as water, pizza and tissues. Some knelt while a Methodist minister led the crowd in prayer after a Barrow County commissioner read a Jewish prayer of mourning.

Some wore athletic gear from Apalachee’s rival, Winder-Barrow High School. At the end of the vigil, someone released balloons in the blue, gold and white colors of Apalachee.

Sophomore Shantal Sanvee, who was in a classroom near the shooting, said she saw “a whole lot of blood. And it was just, it was just horrible.”

“I don’t think I want to be here much longer,” Sanvee said.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of teacher Christina Irimie’s first name.

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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.