Casualties were reported in an active shooter situation at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday morning, according to the Barrow County Sheriff's Office. One suspect is in custody, the sheriff's office said.
The incident is over and a local hospital is "treating multiple gunshot wounds," according to one source briefed on the situation.
Details on the number of victims and their conditions were not immediately clear, the sheriff's office said.
Photos: Las Vegas teenager allegedly ‘pledged allegiance to ISIS,’ built bombs, threatened school shooting
By David Charns, Aug 29, 2024
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A teenager accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired terror attack was found with bomb-making guides and was previously suspended for threatening a school shooting, according to documents and photos the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.
Joshua Robles was 16 when Las Vegas Metro police arrested him in late November. Because of his age at the time, the courts and police kept Robles’ name and details about his arrest confidential. Earlier this month, a judge certified Robles as an adult before a Clark County grand jury indicted him on terror-related charges, including providing material support for acts of terrorism or terrorists and attempting to commit or cause an act of terrorism.
Covenant School shooter's writings released by Tennessee Star
By Adrian Mojica, Sept. 3, 2024
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — The Star News Network has released images showing 90 pages of writings alleged to have been written by The Covenant School mass shooter.
In November 2023, images of three pages of the writings left behind by shooter Audrey Hale, whose actions took the lives of three staffers and three young children, were released online. Those pages were released by online personality Steven Crowder, who also released the writings Tuesday morning in advance of The Star News Network's publication.
Gun-free zones have often been blamed for making schools, malls and other public areas more attractive to shooters; however, there have been no quantitative studies examining those claims. Now, in a first of its kind study published in The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, researchers at UC Davis Health and other institutions have shown that gun-free zones may, in fact, reduce the risk of mass shootings. "Our most significant finding is that gun-free zones don't attract active shooters," said the study's first author, Paul Reeping, an injury epidemiologist and postdoctoral scholar at the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis. "The study actually shows that gun-free zones have a preventive effect. The biggest takeaway is that the claim that gun-free zones are more dangerous is simply not true."
In Michigan, the United States District Court upheld the authority of a school official to have “students take off…sweatshirts because the official interpreted the phrase as having a profane meaning.” The students wore shirts that displayed the message “Let's Go Brandon.” In the context of the sporting event from which the phrase was taken, both the students and the school official “understood that the phrase referenced the profane chant at the NASCAR event…“F*** Joe Biden.” The court ruled that “speech that is vulgar or profane is not entitled to absolute constitutional protection.” The court concluded that school officials had “established that a reasonable interpretation of the phrase Let's Go Brandon is that it conveys a profane and vulgar message with reference to President Joe Biden.” Therefore, “if schools can prohibit students from wearing apparel that contains profanity, schools can also prohibit students from wearing apparel that can reasonably be interpreted as profane.” D.A. v. Tri County Area Schools
In Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia denied immunity for school officials after a 10-year-old student, getting off his school bus, was hit by a car as he was crossing the street. The student alleged negligence on the part of the school board, claiming that the school board was “directly liable because they negligently failed to use reasonable care in the selection of bus drop off sites and procedures to keep students safe.” Citing the changes in the underlying state laws on immunity, the appellate court reversed the lower court. State law now “abrogates sovereign immunity for school boards when they directly own and operate school buses” or are under contract with any person to provide bus services. Sending the case back to trial, the appellate court ruled that “whether the accident occurred as part of using the school bus is a fact-intensive inquiry.” The appellate court also noted that “the mere fact that (the school board) may be the insured under a policy involving the school bus in question does not answer the next question of whether (the student’s) injury was due to the “ownership, maintenance, or use or operation of a vehicle.” Hamilton v. Jackson
In Washington D.C., the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has released its 2023 School Crime and Safety Report. “The report highlights findings from 23 indicators on various school crime and safety topics.” One key finding is that “schools reported higher incident rates of firearm possessions.” Also, “public school students from kindergarten to 12th grade were reported to have possessed firearms at schools (at a rate) higher than in any other school year over the previous decade.”
In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) are “still working on plan for school resource officers nine months after (a) state deadline.” State policymakers increased sales taxes as part of an agreement for school officials to “have 25 school resource officers in place by January 1 (2024).” The campus safety issue in Milwaukee is a big deal. Data show that “from August 2022 to December 2022, there were almost 1,700 calls for police to MPS schools. And those calls aren't slowing down.”
Registration Now Open: 2024 National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security
Sept. 25-26, 2024, noon-3 p.m. daily | Virtual
You are invited to join the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Sept. 25 and 26 for the 2024 National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security. This virtual event brings together K-12 school leaders and practitioners to discuss and share actionable recommendations that enhance safe and supportive learning environments.
Registration is now open for the 2024 Summit. This year’s event will feature panel discussions, sessions and keynote speakers covering violence prevention, emergency planning, youth online safety, student mental wellness, K-12 cybersecurity, and student interventions and support. These sessions are designed to foster a nationwide dialogue on some of the most critical school safety issues, as well as equip school stakeholders and personnel with resources, training and best practices to apply in their local K-12 communities.
Registration is required and there is no cost to attend.
This symposium goes beyond a typical conference; it's an immersive learning experience that brings together individuals from across the country who are passionate about keeping their schools and communities safe.
Don't miss two days of inspiring keynotes, training on the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) and Standard Reunification Method (SRM), and ample opportunities for networking with foundation staff and peers in the school and community safety space. This is an amazing chance to gain actionable insights into enhancing the safety of your organization and those in it.
Parents often worry about raising kids in a tech-saturated world. The threats of cyberbullying, video game violence, pornography, and sexting may seem inescapable. While these dangers exist, there is a much more common and subtle way that technology can cause harm. The pull of our screens often results in their overuse. In turn, this overuse can undermine our ability to meet our fundamental needs for sleep, physical activity, and perhaps most importantly, or in-person social relationships. As parents, we must guide our children toward a healthy, balanced, mindful use of technology. This is quite a challenge, and we often struggle almost as much as our kids with the pull of the screens. We must keep in mind that we are only at the tip of this very formidable iceberg!
