Michela Moore’s phone buzzed with a text message from her daughter, a seventh grader at Lindley Middle School in Mableton, at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The text read, “Love you, Mommy.”
The message was “nothing abnormal,” Moore said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And I just texted her back, ‘Love you more.’”
Hours later, Moore would hear her 12-year-old daughter’s account of what happened just before 3 p.m. when a student, her classmate, suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the school bathroom.
The student was flown to a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital in critical condition, officials said Wednesday. The student was still in critical condition as of the latest update, Cobb County Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday evening.
The school district, in a statement, said the student “tragically used a firearm to commit self-harm.” That prompted a lockdown. School administrators and a school police officer “responded immediately and secured the weapon.”
“We certainly are hopeful, and again our hearts and prayers and thoughts are with that family,” Ragsdale said Thursday. “It is understandably impossible to grasp how a child gets to a point where that type of action is their only acceptable choice.”
Neither the school district or the Cobb County Police Department responded to questions Thursday about how the gun got into the school.
Moore said her daughter, from her seat in class, heard the gunshot ring out down the hallway. She had just come back from that bathroom.
“I see so many families, not just here in Cobb County, but across Georgia and across the nation that’s suffering from gun violence, and this is just too close to home for me,” Moore said. “This is a parent’s worst nightmare.”
Investigators said Wednesday they do not know how the student got the gun into the school and would not say what kind of weapon was used. For Moore, whose daughter is distraught, the incident elevated her concerns about how schools keep students safe and support children’s mental health needs.
“I’m livid. I’m livid about school safety. I’m livid that I can’t feel that my child’s safety is paramount,” Moore said. “We have to do something because it makes no sense that you can go and take a weapon into a school. How can you get in? How can you get access to a weapon?”
Cobb is the second-largest school system in the state and spends approximately $35 million per year on safety. The district uses artificial intelligence weapons detectors at large-scale events, Atlanta News First reported in September. But the district does not have weapons detectors in middle schools.
“We need action, not resignation to the inevitability,” Laura Judge, a parent and former candidate for a school board seat, told the Cobb school board at its Thursday meeting.
Jeff Hubbard, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators, asked school officials to push lawmakers to fund additional mental health supports for Georgia schools. He also asked that they lobby for a rebate for those who purchase lockers to safely store guns.
Lawmakers came close to passing tax incentives for gun safety equipment last year but could not come to an agreement. State Rep. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, filed a bill Monday that would give taxpayers up to $300 in a tax credit for eligible safe storage expenses.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
On Sept. 4, an Apalachee High School student allegedly opened fire inside the Barrow County school, killing two teachers and two classmates and injuring several others, according to investigators. It was the deadliest school shooting in Georgia’s history. The 14-year-old has been charged with several counts of murder in that case. His father has also been charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter after allegedly providing his son with the weapon used.
After that shooting, Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns endorsed the idea of providing incentives to those who safely store guns and obtain gun safety training.. He indicated lawmakers could take additional steps during the legislative session to “examine every reasonable idea and solution to protect and defend the most vulnerable among us — our children — while also protecting the right and privilege of our citizens to protect their families and property,” the AJC previously reported.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday his plan to give Georgia schools an additional $50 million this year for school security. Kemp said he also intends to allocate nearly $900,000 to improve the ratio of school psychologists, which is currently one psychologist per 2,077 students — among the worst ratios in the country. The National Association of School Psychologists recommends one per every 500 students.
Other recent incidents have underscored security concerns. Also on Wednesday, a Cartersville High School student was arrested after allegedly hiding two weapons and ammunition in a school bathroom after a shooting incident in a nearby neighborhood, police said. And last week, another Apalachee High student was arrested and charged with possessing a gun at school.
Cobb officials said counseling services would be made available to students and staff. Resources can be found at findhelp.cobbcounty.gov or through the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988.
Moore said she’s praying for the injured girl and her family.
“But I’m just grateful that my daughter wasn’t injured, wasn’t hurt, and that I can put my arms around my daughter tonight,” she said.
— Staff writer Cassidy Alexander contributed to this article.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution limits reporting on suicide because of concerns that attention can increase the likelihood of suicide in vulnerable individuals. We are reporting limited information in this case because the shooting took place in a school and prompted an emergency alert to be issued.
