Month: September 2024

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (“GBI”) has confirmed that at least four people were killed, and nine hospitalized after a shooting at a Georgia high school.  A post on X from the GBI noted that a suspect is in custody.

The Wednesday morning shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, located in Barrow County roughly 50 miles east of the state’s capital in Atlanta, saw multiple of law enforcement agencies respond before 10:30 a.m. local time. The Georgia high school was under lockdown until a little before 11:30 a.m., when the site was cleared and students released to families.

CNN reported that the suspect in the fatal mass shooting has been identified as Colt Gray. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at an afternoon news conference that Gray is a student at the school, and will be charged with murder and handled as an adult as he moves through the criminal justice system.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said the shooting was reported at 10:23 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at Apalachee High School, with the school  put on lockdown in the aftermath of the shooting. Two teachers and two students were killed, authorities said, with nine other victims were taken to hospitals with injuries.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a post on X he has “directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School and urge all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state. We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners as we gather information and further respond to this situation.”

President Joe Biden said in a statement shared by the White House Wednesday afternoon that he is “mourning the deaths” of those killed in the shooting and that he is “thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed.  What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart. Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal. We are closely coordinating with officials at the federal, state and local level, and are grateful for the first responders who brought the suspect into custody and prevented further loss of life.”

At a separate news conference on Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he was “devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy.  We are still gathering information, but the FBI and ATF are on the scene working with state, local and federal partners. The Justice Department stands ready to provide any resources or support that the Winder community needs in the days ahead.”

Winder, GA is located about 50 miles outside Atlanta. Schools in Barrow County will be closed the rest of the week.

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On Wednesday, the Departments of Justice and Treasury announced sanctions targeting Russian government-sponsored attempts to manipulate U.S. public opinion ahead of the November election. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the sweeping crackdown of efforts by the Russian government to influence the upcoming 2024 election through covert networks aimed at spreading disinformation to American voters (per ABC News).

Garland stated: “That law enacted nearly a century ago, was enacted to ensure that the American people were informed when a foreign power engages in political activities or seeks to influence public discourse. The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power is attempting to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to send around its own propaganda.”

Garland said the State Department would also take separate actions, announcing that the DOJ had unsealed an indictment in the Southern District of New York that charges two employees of the Russian-backed media network RT with conspiring to commit money laundering and to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The defendants — Konstantin Kalashnikov, 31, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27 — are accused of implementing a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct a Tennessee-based company to publish and disseminate content that was considered favorable to the Russian government. The company then contracted with U.S.-based social media influencers to share that content on their platforms.

FBI Director Christopher Wray highlighted both foreign and domestic incidents of attempts to influence voters: “RT has used people living and working inside the U.S. to facilitate contracts with American media figures to create and disseminate Russian propaganda here. The content was pitched as legitimate independent news when, in fact, much of it was created in Russia by RT employees who work for the Russian government. The second operation reveals even more malign activities by companies working under the direction and control of the Russian government, companies that created media websites to trick Americans into unwittingly consuming Russian propaganda.”

Garland shared that information was “often consistent with Russia’s interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition to core Russian interests, particularly its ongoing war in Ukraine.”  Kalashnikov identified himself as RT’s “Deputy Chief of the Digital Media Projects Department,” and Afanasyeva has identified herself on social media as a “producer at RT, dealing with overseas affairs and news.”  Said Garland: “The company never disclosed to the influencers or to their millions of followers as ties to RT and the Russian government. Instead, the defendants and the company claimed that the company was sponsored by a private investor, but that private investor was a fictitious persona.”

The Treasury Department also announced that its Office of Foreign Assets Control had designated 10 people and two entities as part of a “coordinated U.S. government response to Moscow’s malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election.”  The Treasury Department shared in its announcement of sanctions that RT  “used a front company to disguise its own involvement or the involvement of the Russian government in content meant to influence U.S. audiences.” Under the new actions, all property and interests in property of the designated people that are in the U.S. or in the possession or control of Americans are blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Editorial credit: Melnikov Dmitriy / Shutterstock.com