A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
To Georgia, where the investigation of a mass shooting has revealed an especially painful detail.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Back in 2023, local law enforcement visited a father and his 13-year-old son. They were investigating online threats and photos of guns online. The father and son denied everything, and the father said the guns in the house were secure.
MARTÍNEZ: Now the FBI says the son is the same person accused of killing four people yesterday. Grant Blankenship of Georgia Public Broadcasting has some sounds of the aftermath.
GRANT BLANKENSHIP, BYLINE: Wednesday night, Georgia Bureau of Investigation head Chris Hosey revealed the accused was known to law enforcement. Last year, the FBI passed concerns about the alleged shooter to the sheriff in the neighboring county where the family then lived.
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CHRIS HOSEY: They conducted an investigation at that time, and there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action.
BLANKENSHIP: Investigators say yesterday, he used an AR-15-style rifle to kill and maim.
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BRIAN KEMP: This hits home for us.
BLANKENSHIP: That's Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.
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KEMP: Being from Athens just down the road, Marty and I having a daughter that taught first grade just a few years ago. This is everybody's worst nightmare.
BLANKENSHIP: He insisted now is not the time to ask policy questions.
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KEMP: Today is the day for an investigation, to mourn these precious Georgians that we have lost.
BLANKENSHIP: Earlier, community residents gathered to remember the dead and pray for the recovery of survivors.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: And so today, we pray for him that somehow, through this...
BLANKENSHIP: They also prayed for the 14-year-old boy accused of killing two other classmates and two teachers at Apalachee High School.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: ...And the hold that evil has on him will be released.
BLANKENSHIP: And for some cure to whatever ill led this shooter and others to violence. Earlier at the neighboring elementary school, Tina Ronghi worried about her grandchildren and their classmates.
TINA RONGHI: These poor kids aren't going to be the same. They're not going to be the same.
BLANKENSHIP: How can you be, she asked, after witnessing something like that?
For NPR News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Winder, Ga. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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