A 14-year-old boy killed four people, including two students, and wounded nine more when he opened fire at a high school in the US state of Georgia on Wednesday, law enforcement said.
The suspected shooter 鈥� also a student at the school 鈥� had been brought to the FBI鈥檚 attention more than a year ago for threats to commit a school shooting, the agency said.
He was taken into custody after Wednesday鈥檚 shooting and will be tried as an adult on murder charges, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Two teachers were also among the dead.
After the latest chapter in America鈥檚 gun violence crisis 鈥� nearly 400 mass shootings this year alone, by one tally 鈥� people gathered at a sports field outside Apalachee High School, some forming a circle with their arms linked.
After the suspected shooter was brought to the attention of the FBI, the county sheriff鈥檚 office interviewed his father and the then 13-year-old suspect, who denied the threats, before flagging the child to school officials for monitoring.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Chris Hosey said the shooter used an 鈥楢R-platform style weapon鈥� and that authorities were investigating how he brought the gun into the school.
School shootings have become a sadly regular occurrence in the United States, where about a third of adults own a firearm and regulations on purchasing even powerful military-style rifles are lax.
US president Joe Biden said he was mourning the dead.
Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire after the shooting, vice president Kamala Harris said it was time to end the 鈥榚pidemic of gun violence.鈥�
Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said the perpetrator of the shooting was a 鈥榮ick and deranged monster.鈥�
This year, there have been at least 384 mass shootings 鈥� defined as a shooting involving at least four victims, dead or wounded 鈥� across the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
At least 11,557 people have been killed in firearms violence in the United States this year, according to the GVA.
