Heartbreaking messages between an Apalachee High School student and his mother revealed the moment the children learned there was an active shooter.
Erin Clark received a text message from her son, Ethan, at 10:23 a.m. Wednesday telling her there was a shooting at the school.
She wrote: “There is a school shooting going on right now. I am scared. I am not joking.”
His mother immediately responded and assured him that she was leaving work. In a heartbreaking response, Ethan wrote: “I love you.”
—I love you too, baby. Where are you? —Clark said.
Ethan told her he was in class and added that “someone is dead.”
Heartbreaking messages between an Apalachee High School student and his mother revealed the moment the children learned there was an active shooter
NBC reports that two people were killed and at least four others injured in the tragedy in Winder, Georgia.
The high school, which houses about 1,900 students, is 40 kilometers west of Athens.
The Burrow County Sheriff’s Office said multiple victims have been reported and one person has been arrested.
Clark later shared his exchange with his son on Facebook, describing the entire experience as his “worst fucking nightmare.”
Desperate parents wait at the school for their children to be released. It is known that all students are now in the oval and can leave.
NBC reports that two people were killed and at least four others were injured in the tragedy in Winder, Georgia.
A woman who was waiting for her friend to pick up her children shared the aftermath of the shooting on TikTok.
“It’s very calm,” he said.
“It was very noisy when I first came here and now it’s very, very quiet. They say they’re going to hand the children over to their parents, but I haven’t seen anyone walking down this road.”
The woman said there were “so many police officers I can’t even count them. The road is completely blocked all the way.”
News sources at the scene revealed that distraught parents had to park a mile from the grounds and walk to where their children were.
Another father who also described the tragedy as “a parent’s worst nightmare” said his daughter was “shaken up but okay.”
‘Listening to my baby crying and saying she was scared, I felt helpless because I couldn’t reach her.
‘The shooting happened very close to her classroom. So close that she heard gunshots.’
The students were ordered to gather on the football field before being released from their parents’ custody.