A 14-year-old boy was charged Thursday with the murder of four people at his high school in the southeastern United States the day before, local authorities announced.
This tragedy is part of a macabre series in the United States, which has long been hit by school and university killings.
The suspect is accused of killing two teachers and two 14-year-old boys, both students at Apalachee High School in Winder, about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta.
The Georgia State Bureau of Investigation, which said he would be tried as an adult, said he would be arraigned in court Friday.
“The investigation into the Apalachee High School shooting is ongoing,” the office said on X. “We are on day two of a very complex investigation and due process is paramount,” it added, noting that autopsies of the victims were scheduled for Thursday.
Such tragedies are recurrent in the United States, where there are more guns than people and where regulations on the purchase of weapons, including military-type weapons, are relatively lax.
According to CNN on Thursday, citing anonymous sources, the weapon used Wednesday was an AR-15 assault rifle – a name often used in such dramas – and had been given by the teenager’s father as a gift to his son.
The question of the responsibility of the parents of minor perpetrators is increasingly pressing.
“How can you have an assault rifle in your home, not locked up, and know that your child knows where it is,” President Joe Biden asked Thursday. “We need to hold parents accountable who allow their children to have access to these weapons.”
In April, the parents of a teenager who killed four students at his Michigan high school were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison, a first in the United States.
Polls show that a majority of voters support tighter controls on gun purchases and use, something opposed by the powerful gun lobby, the NRA.