STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
School shootings in this country happen over and over. They're repetitive, so common it's easy to feel numb to each one. But when you learn the details, each shooting is distinct. The people involved are distinct human beings, and you feel what happened.
In yesterday's shooting in Winder, Ga., the alleged gunman - well, there was a gunman; I don't think we need to say alleged. In yesterday's shooting in Winder, Ga., the gunman killed two teachers and two students. Maybe gunman is not the word. Police say the suspect is 14. And there is a backstory here. CNN reporter Leigh Waldman is at Apalachee High School this morning, and she tells us that local law enforcement contacted the suspect at his home last year, when he was 13.
LEIGH WALDMAN: At that point, the 13-year-old had made several anonymous threats to unidentified locations, unidentified times, to commit a school shooting. And at that point, they had spoken to the teen's father, and the father had said that they had several hunting rifles at the home and said that their teenager did not have access to those hunting rifles. Now, the teen, when confronted, had denied making those threats, which is why they did not have probable cause to make an arrest at that point last year.
INSKEEP: How does this story from 2023 cast yesterday morning's shooting in a different light?
WALDMAN: Well, we also know that yesterday morning, officials at the school had received threats to five other schools in the area and that Apalachee High School was identified as the first location where the shooting was going to happen. So we know that there were multiple threats made, and unfortunately, Apalachee High School - there was a shooting that did occur. So there was suspicion that something could've happened, and now, with hindsight, there was premonition that if they could've acted sooner - maybe that this shooting could've been prevented had action been taken last year.
INSKEEP: So how is the community responding to this shooting?
WALDMAN: Last night, there was a vigil that was held in a local park here in Winder, Ga. And this community is reeling from this shooting. No one ever suspects that this is going to happen in their own community. This high school here holds roughly 1,900 students. It's not a large high school. You saw parents flocking to the school, rushing to get their kids. Many of the kids left their phones in the classroom, so parents weren't able to get in contact with their students, so they were terrified that their kids weren't going to walk out of the school. And then you think of the staff also inside - they didn't know if their loved ones were going to come home from work that day. So obviously, this community is grieving.
INSKEEP: Would you just describe the scene where you are as we're talking, a little bit before sunrise on this morning?
WALDMAN: Yeah. It's incredibly dark. It's incredibly quiet here. The parking lot is full, but it's roped off by crime scene tape. I'm surrounded by other media from outlets across the country here, but it's very, very eerily quiet. And the lights inside of this school are on and the flags are at half-staff, but it's eerily quiet. And school buses are still here, so it seems like time was paused on a Wednesday, when school should've been in session.
INSKEEP: CNN reporter Leigh Waldman in Georgia, thanks so much.
WALDMAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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