Source: Andrew Harnik / Getty
terse response to a high school shooting was thoroughly rebuked by many on social media.
On Wednesday (September 4), four people were shot and killed at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia which is an hour’s drive east of Atlanta. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s comments in the wake of the shooting weren’t well received, and social media users made it a point to remind him of his culpability in the situation. Kemp spoke at a press conference held at the scene on Wednesday night,
stating: “Today is not the day for politics and policy, today is a day for investigation,” and said that the victims and their families are in his prayers.
The Republican governor also touched on his ties to the area in his remarks to the press, reflecting on representing Barrow County as a Georgia State Senator over 20 years ago. Kemp was previously scheduled to speak before the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, Nevada but canceled the trip. He then gave way to Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey, who provided details about the victims
– 14-year-olds, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and instructors Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie – to the press. The 14-year-old suspect, a student at the school named Colt Gray, was apprehended by school resource officers on campus.
Investigators said that he used an assault-style rifle in the shooting, and will be charged as an adult for murder.
Kemp’s remarks received substantial outrage and pushback on social media. Many
pointed out his signing of a bill in 2022 expanding gun rights in the state allowing residents to carry handguns in public without a background check or a license. He also vigorously defended his stance in 2021 when told of Georgia’s failing grade from the Giffords Law Center on gun control. “I’ll wear this ‘F’ as a badge of honor,” he said at the time. Journalist Mehdi Hasan was among those pointing out Kemp’s political ad where he talked with teenagers while holding a rifle in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Kemp has also been a firm ally of Republican presidential nominee
Donald Trump.
Check out more of the social media responses to Kemp’s remarks below.
