Mother, daughters exchange frantic texts during Georgia school shooting

At 10:23 a.m. Wednesday, sophomore Abby Turner texted her mother from her second-period biology class at Apalachee High School. “i can’t explain it i’m shaking to much,” Abby replied, according to text messages shared with The Washington Post. “That’s when I thought I heard shots,” Abby, who is 15, said in an interview. Her teacher gave everyone instructions in a voice that was soft but very direct: “Get down, be quiet, don’t move, don’t talk.” “I was nervous and couldn’t breathe,” Abby said. “I was just sitting with my friend, hugging her.” Advertisement That’s when she texted her mother. “I wanted to do it in case I couldn’t do it later,” she said. “It was my first instinct.” Reading these messages at home, Sonya Turner first called her husband to tell him something was up but that maybe, despite their older daughter’s text, it was just a drill. Then she called back: “It’s real, it’s real, please go to the school,” she told him. Derrick Turner took off, soon waiting near the perimeter while emergency vehicles sped onto the campus. The three connected via a group text, one girl saying she didn’t know what to do. Like 8 times,” answered Isabella Faith Turner, 14. Advertisement “I love you,” Isabella responded. And then, “Mommy im scared.” Share this article Share “Dad is coming,” Turner replied. “We are coming.” Skip to end of carousel School shootings: Tracking gun violence in the U.S. (The Washington Post) The Post has spent years tracking the number of students affected by school shootings . End of carousel Turner spent part of the day waiting for news with another mother, a friend whose husband is in law enforcement and who was heading to the scene. “I’m watching her life fall apart,” Turner said. “He was in the classroom where the first teacher was shot and killed,” Turner said. She finally decided she had to go — though she had to walk most of the mile and a half, because cars of arriving parents were parked the entire route from her house to the school and beyond. “When I found her we were both crying,” Abby said. “She said that nobody wanted to get up,” Abby said. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/09/04/apalachee-school-shooting-georgia/