Student wounded and young suspect is in custody after shooting at Georgia high school, police say

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (AP) — A shooting at a Georgia high school Wednesday left one student wounded, and a teenage suspect who fled was later taken into custody, police said.

The shooting at Warner Robins High School involving two ninth-graders occurred just one week into the new school year and prompted a response from dozens of law enforcement officers. Warner Robins is about 102 miles (164 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta.

“Today a call that we train for every year happened to come to Houston County,” Sheriff Matt Moulton said at an evening news conference.

The injured student was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Moulton did not specify the type of injuries the student had.

It wasn’t immediately known whether the school has metal detectors in place. Moulton declined to take questions at the news conference, citing the active investigation.

The sheriff said a group of students was inside a school bathroom when a verbal altercation between two students escalated into a physical fight. One student was shot at 2:15 p.m., and the suspect fled. A school resource officer arrived quickly, applied tourniquets to the student’s injuries and remained until emergency services personnel arrived.

An hour later, the suspect was caught “without further incident” in a neighborhood about a half-mile (800 meters) from the school, Moulton said.

“The school threat protocol and our training was followed perfectly today,” Moulton said. “Fortunately what could have been a much-worse incident was minimized to us only having one student injured.”

Houston County Schools Superintendent Richard Rogers said the school would be closed for students on Thursday and Friday and for staff on Thursday. Crisis counselors would be available at the school for staff on Friday and for students on Monday.

“We’re going to focus on healing,” Rogers said.