A text exchange between an Apalachee High School student and his mother gave a frightening glimpse into the panic that unfolded when a shooter believed to be as young as 14 opened fire Wednesday morning, killing at least four and injuring 30 others.
“School shooting [right now]. I’m scared. Pls. I’m not joking,” the student, Ethan Clark, sent his mother Erin in a flurry of messages at 10:23 a.m., minutes after students learned there was an active shooter on the northern Georgia school campus.
“I’m leaving work,” Erin replied.
The text exchanged between Apalachee High School student Ethan Clark and his mom Erin Clark. Facebook/Erin Clark
An air evacuation helicopter sits on standby after a shooting took place at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Sept. 4, 2024. AFP via Getty Images“I love you,” Ethan wrote.
The conversation then took a chilling turn.
“Love you too baby. Where are you?” Erin asked.
“Class. Someone’s dead.”
Erin later shared on Facebook that the back-and-forth with her son as the gunman stalked the school was her “worst f–king nightmare,” adding “Ethan’s OK.”
Students and staff gather next to the football field after law enforcement officers responded to a fatal shooting at Apalachee High School in a still image from aerial video in Winder, Georgia, on Sept. 4, 2024. via REUTERSThe Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the gunman is in custody, and it was not immediately clear if he attended the high school, in Winder, which is about 45 minutes outside Atlanta.
Terrorized students shared grisly details with local media about the horrific scene that unfolded.
Miguel Eduardo Perichi Orta, a sophomore at Apalachee High School, recalled seeing “a huge puddle of blood in the classroom” during the massacre.
Law enforcement and first responders respond to Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Sept. 4, 2024. AFP via Getty Images“That really, it like dropped my stomach,” he told WXIA. “It was heartbreaking to see that.”
Camille Nelms, 14, recalled the sickening moment the gunman entered her classroom, and being convinced she would be killed.
“I was crying. I didn’t want to die that way,” Nelms told the outlet. “I don’t want to meet the Lord that way.”
The shooting’s first victim has been identified as a special education math teacher, David Phenix, who was shot in the foot and the hip and is in stable condition, his daughter, Katie wrote on Facebook.
Apalachee High School’s student body is made up of about 1,900 pupils.
