International
4 dead, 9 hospitalized after 14-year-old boy opens fire in US high school
The victims were identified as Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. Aspinwall and Irimie were both math teachers, according to the school’s website.
All nine of the hospitalized victims had been shot “in some capacity,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said. All nine were expected to survive, Smith said.
The suspect surrendered when he was confronted by responding law enforcement officers, Smith said. Smith disclosed that the alleged gunman was speaking with authorities and that those conversations were “helping with our investigation.” He was being held at the Barrow County Detention Center.
The alleged shooter used an AR platform-style gun and there was no evidence any other shooters were involved, according to Hosey.
“We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline from the time that he got here to school today to the time the incident took place,” Hosey said in a late-night news conference.
FBI Atlanta said on social media Wednesday night that county authorities had interviewed the suspect last year about online threats to commit a school shooting.
According to FBI Atlanta, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center found that the posts came from Georgia, and “the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for action.”
The sheriff’s office interviewed the then-13-year-old boy and his father. The boy said he was not responsible for the threats. The father said he had hunting guns in the house, but that his son did not have “unsupervised access to them,” FBI Atlanta said.
“Jackson County alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject, FBI Atlanta said. “At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels.”
Two gunshot victims were taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow and one gunshot victim was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville. All three had injuries that were not considered life-threatening. A spokesperson for Grady Health System, which operates Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, previously said staff had received one gunshot wound patient from the high school.
In addition to the wounded, multiple patients came into the hospital system with anxiety symptoms and others experiencing panic attacks, a spokesperson confirmed to CBS News.
“This is a very, very fluid investigation,” said Smith. “This is going to take multiple days for us to get answers as to what happened and why this happened.”
Administrators had earlier placed students and faculty on lockdown as reports emerged online of a possible active shooter at the school in Winder, Georgia, which is about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Officers were dispatched to the site at approximately 10:23 a.m. EDT, according to the sheriff. The premises were cleared within an hour, the school said, and students started being released to their families.
According to Smith, law enforcement was notified of the threat thanks to a new security system that had been installed about a week earlier. Smith noted there were three school resources officers on campus at the time of the shooting.
Marques Coleman, 14, a student at the school told CBS affiliate WANF he was inside the classroom when the shooting happened and something in his head told him to look to his left. “I see a kid with a, he had like a big gun,” said Coleman, who said the student just started shooting. “I got up, I started running, he started shooting like, like 10 times. He shot at least at least 10 times.”
Coleman said he dived behind the desk and his teacher got in front of him, “My teacher started barricading the door with desks,” he said. After he got up Coleman told WANF he saw, “one of my classmates on the ground bleeding so bad,” another girl shot in the leg and a friend shot in the stomach.
“I just thank God that I wasn’t the one that got hit, you know, like in the midst of all of it happening. I was just thanking God because you know, he had his hands around me and stuff like that because I could have been the one that got here because I was right there. He could have easily got me. But God had his hands around me,” said Coleman.
There was a heavy police presence seen on the school’s property Wednesday morning, WANF reported at around 11 a.m. Aerial footage from the news station showed dozens of ambulances, officers and a medical helicopter gathered in the parking lot and on the green outside of the building. At that time, at least one person had been transferred into the helicopter on a stretcher and students evacuated to the school’s stadium, where buses were due to pick them up, according to WANF.
Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation were also called to the scene. FBI Atlanta said they were “coordinating with and supporting local law enforcement” in a statement shared just before 12 p.m. on social media.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp addressed the situation in a social media statement released around the same time, saying his office had moved state resources to help with the response to what he described as an “incident at Apalachee High School.”
“I have 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,” Kemp said. “We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners as we gather information and further respond to this situation.”
President Biden and his administration were aware of the shooting, the White House Press Office said in a statement.
“President Biden has been briefed by his Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall, on the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia and his administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information,” the statement said.
Some 1,900 students are enrolled at Apalachee High School. Classes begin each day at 8:15 a.m., according to the district calendar district calendar. Barrow County schools will be closed for the remainder of the week, the superintendent said.
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescue teams with search dogs continued to look through mud, rocks and debris on the Nepal -China border Tuesday for thousands of people missing a week after the catastrophic flash floods that tore through Himalayan communities and left more than 1,000 dead.
As police in Kathmandu buried dozens of bodies in multiple trenches, Nepal’s disaster agency said 1,003 deaths had been counted there, with 3,916 people missing, including 583 foreign nationals. China reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, including 261 foreigners, as of Sunday.
The scale of the Aug. 26 disaster is hampering rescue efforts, with landslides, destroyed roads and widespread damage cutting off remote areas.
Crews faced challenging conditions as they searched unstable terrain and piles of debris, raising fears the death toll could rise as rescuers reach isolated communities.
Race to reach missing hydropower workers
Rescuers are racing to reach hundreds of workers believed to be trapped inside tunnels at hydropower projects in Nepal damaged by the floods. About 900 workers are missing from 12 projects, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels, according to local authorities.
Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, Nepal’s army spokesperson, said teams assisted by foreign experts were working at several hydropower projects. Images released by the army showed rescue teams entering debris-filled tunnels and wading through mud and water in the search for signs of life.
On the Chinese side, rescue crews scoured areas hit by mudslides, particularly around the Gyirong Port border crossing, which was destroyed.
Some rescuers, aided by search dogs, searched gaps among rocks and debris for signs of life. Other teams used heavy machinery to clear a major highway leading to Gyirong Port, hoping to clear the way for equipment, personnel and supplies to reach the disaster zone, according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.
Mass burials of unidentified bodies in Kathmandu
In Kathmandu, police worked in heavy rain on Tuesday to bury dozens of bodies in multiple trenches next to a forested area.
Barbed wire was erected around the site, while blue numbered markers identified the graves of people whose names were not yet known.
Authorities in Nepal have been burying bodies in temporary graves until they can be identified. They are preserving DNA samples, photographing distinguishing facial features and recording other identifying details.
Each body is assigned a reference number to help families identify and claim the remains later.
Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day.
Relief operations expanded to stranded communities
At least 11,814 people have been rescued so far, according to Nepalese authorities. Emergency crews used helicopters and other aircraft to reach stranded communities in areas where roads and bridges have been destroyed by the flooding and landslides.
Efforts are being stepped up to provide assistance to survivors in areas where roads and other transportation routes had been damaged or cut off.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, said a second batch of relief supplies was being sent to Nepal, including drones, DNA testing and water purification equipment. Chinese DNA testing experts will also help Nepal identify bodies, he said.
Bimal Sharma, a helicopter pilot who has been flying rescue and relief missions, said he was shocked to see the devastation in Timure, a border town close to Tibet that he has known for years.
“It felt like I was flying over an entirely different landscape,” said Sharma, adding that he has had little opportunity to speak with the people he rescued. “I can see the pain in their eyes. It’s heartbreaking,” he said.
Glacial collapse in the Himalayas
The disaster began in the Himalayas when a glacial collapse sent large amounts of rock, ice and meltwater into valleys below, triggering powerful floods downstream.
Scientists studying satellite imagery said the collapse appears to have involved the failure of bedrock beneath a glacier in the Himalayan region. The rockfall was powerful enough to register as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.
The resulting surge of water and debris entered rivers that flow through valleys in Tibet and Nepal, causing them to rise rapidly. Floodwaters swept away homes, buildings, roads and bridges and carried mud and rocks downstream.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah said that the disaster highlighted the need for action to combat climate change.
“This incident has indicated that the risks we face in the Himalayan region are increasing with climate change,” Shah said in a social media post Monday night. “Therefore, this region must be alert, and at the same time, it is time for us to strongly raise the issue of disasters caused by climate change before the international community.”
Saaliq reported from New Delhi. Associated Press journalists Victoria Milko in Kathmandu, Nepal, E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Kanis Leung in Hong Kong and Aijaz Hussain in New Delhi contributed to this report.
Canada has invited 1,000 candidates through its Express Entry system to apply for permanent residence under the Canadian Experience Class.
The invitation round was conducted on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, according to the latest ministerial instructions published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
The department said candidates required a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score of 523 to receive an invitation.
“Number of invitations issued: 1,000,” the notice stated.
It added that candidates ranked among the first 1,000 eligible foreign nationals in the group were eligible to receive invitations.
The round was conducted at 10:13:44 UTC on August 18, with a tie-breaking rule of August 17, 2026, at 22:09:00 UTC.
The tie-breaking rule means that “If more than one candidate has the lowest score, the cut-off is based on the date and time they submitted their Express Entry profiles.”
The invitations were issued under the Canadian Experience Class, one of the classes managed through Canada’s Express Entry system.
The ministerial instructions, signed by Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Lena Metlege Diab, in Ottawa on August 18, stated that invitations could be issued between August 18 and August 19, 2026.
“Invitations may be issued to eligible foreign nationals who rank among the first 1,000 eligible foreign nationals in the group ranking,” the instructions stated.
Express Entry is Canada’s primary online system for managing permanent residence applications from skilled workers.
It covers three federal economic immigration programs: the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, and the Federal Skilled Trades Program.
Candidates create profiles that are ranked using the Comprehensive Ranking System, which awards points for factors including age, education, language ability, work experience, and other human capital attributes.
The highest-ranked candidates are invited to apply in periodic rounds.
The Canadian Experience Class is designed for skilled workers who already have Canadian work experience and wish to become permanent residents. Eligibility generally requires at least one year (1,560 hours) of skilled work experience in Canada within the past three years in occupations under National Occupational Classification TEER categories 0, 1, 2, or 3, along with minimum language proficiency (Canadian Language Benchmark 7 for TEER 0 or 1 jobs, and CLB 5 for TEER 2 or 3).
There is no education requirement and no need to show settlement funds.
Applicants must plan to live outside Quebec.
The August 18 draw followed a pattern of frequent CEC-focused rounds in 2026. A previous Canadian Experience Class draw on August 5 issued 3,000 invitations with a lower CRS cut-off of 516.
The latest round’s reduced volume and higher cut-off of 523 mark one of the more selective CEC invitations so far this year.
As of mid-August 2026, IRCC had already issued well over 113,000 invitations through Express Entry, with a substantial share going to Canadian Experience Class candidates.
Thousands of people turned back from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and returned to Morocco’s Fnideq began boarding buses home on Friday, with the operation continuing on Saturday, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
A Moroccan source close to the operation told AFP on condition of anonymity that the people sent back by Spain are to be transported home directly by bus or via the railway station in Tangier, 70 kilometres (45 miles) away.
According to the source, the Fnideq border crossing is now “completely secure”, as are the hills overlooking it, from which hundreds of people, mostly young men, had thrown stones at security forces on Friday.
The Spanish government announced on Friday evening that at least 48,000 of the 60,000 people who entered Ceuta in recent days had returned to Morocco.
Late Friday, AFP journalists saw around twenty 54-person-capacity buses depart, for a total of about a thousand people.
Fnideq is a small town of just 70,000 inhabitants, roughly equivalent to the population of the enclave of Ceuta, one of Spain’s two North African enclaves.
The buses were headed for Tangier, Tetouan, or the economic capital Casablanca, all equipped with rail facilities to redirect people who had come from as far away as Marrakech, more than 500 kilometres to the south.
“I heard that buses had arrived to take us back home. Honestly, I just want to see my children again. I regret having come all the way here,” said Rachid Aouchari, 32, from Ksar el Kebir, 170 kilometres from Fnideq, who was turned back from Ceuta during the night from Thursday to Friday.
Until midday Friday, clashes had pitted the security forces against migrants seeking to cross into Spain, either by swimming or on foot along a narrow wall leading to the Ceuta crossing point.
Police responded with water cannons and tear gas against hundreds of young men, arresting dozens of them, according to an AFP journalist.
AFP
-
News2 days agoEFCC sacks over 40 staff for corruption, prosecutes 5 others
-
News3 days ago
Ex-Bayelsa Gov, Timipre Sylva dumps APC, gives reasons
-
News2 days ago
15 NYSC members abducted in Kogi regain freedom, recount ordeal
-
News2 days ago
EFCC summons ex-gov Sylva over alleged $14.86m fraud
-
News2 days ago
FG launches ‘Hire from Nigeria’ campaign to connect local talent with global jobs
-
News24 hours ago
Gunmen abduct APC Chairman, kill two
-
Politics2 days ago
Peter Obi questions President’s past, demands transparency over Educational Records
-
News2 days ago
Family of four die in Kwara building collapse
