‘We did what God put us here to do.’ School resource officers describe response to deadly shooting

School resource officers Chase Boyd and Brandon King ran toward the sound of gunfire, rounding a corner inside a Winder, Georgia, high school to find a hallway shrouded in dust and smoke – and through the haze, the silhouette of a shooter.

School resource officers Chase Boyd and Brandon King ran toward the sound of gunfire, rounding a corner inside a Winder, Georgia, high school to find a hallway shrouded in dust and smoke – and through the haze, the silhouette of a shooter. “The reason he is still alive is because we couldn’t see him to shoot him,” Boyd told the Barrow News-Journal of the 14-year-old accused of opening fire on September 4 at Apalachee High School, killing two students and two teachers. Seven others were wounded. The officers’ comments to the newspaper were their first public accounting of the shooting, which authorities previously said ended with the gunman surrendering to the deputies once confronted. “God was a huge factor that day,” King said, also nodding to the training he and Boyd had undergone prior to the shooting. “If it wasn’t for God, I wouldn’t be here today … We did what God put us here to do.” The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office declined a CNN request to interview the deputies Thursday, saying they were unavailable. A series of revelations in the aftermath of the shooting have raised questions about whether more could have been done to prevent it. Particular focus has been paid to the accused shooter’s father – who allegedly provided his son access to the weapon used despite knowledge of his deteriorating mental health – and his mother’s claim she called the school that morning to warn of an “extreme emergency” after receiving a concerning text message from her son. The sheriff has said there was no prior warning of a possible threat.