Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., told Newsmax on Thursday that locals are relying on their "strong faith in God" to emotionally recover from the mass shooting at a school in Barrow County, Georgia, on Wednesday that killed four people and injured nearly a dozen.
A 14-year-old student was accused of killing two students and two teachers in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School. The incident was the 45th school shooting of 2024 and the deadliest since the shooting at a Nashville school in March 2023 that killed six people, according to CNN.
Collins, whose district includes Barrow County, told "Wake Up America" that locals are relying on their faith.
"The reason I think people are holding up is because they have a strong faith in God … prayers are being lifted up, and I just encourage everybody out there to please just continue to pray for those who didn't get to make it home yesterday and those who are injured," Collins said.
He added, "It's times like this when your faith really comes into play."
Collins later said Georgia has been "preparing" for an incident such as this by "providing money for school systems to improve their security."
"The resource officer did a great job in contacting and helping local law enforcement identify where this shooter was and apprehending him," Collins said. "This type of evil … we're not going to let that prevail, we're not going to let that win at the end of the day."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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