We are following horrific breaking news out of Winder, Georgia. That's a town about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia. And moments ago we just got an update from law enforcement and other officials about the mass shooting at Appalachia High School earlier today. And they say four people were killed by the shooter. Two of the victims were teachers. Two of the victims were students. Nine others have been hospitalized. State officials say that the suspect in custody is 14 years old. A boy who attends the school. He has been speaking to investigators, we are told, and law enforcement officials say they believe the suspect will be charged with murder and tried as an adult. The local sheriff getting emotional as he spoke to reporters. My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community. But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. I want that to be very clear and known. Love will prevail over what happened today. I assure you of that. The sheriff later explained he was not referring to a hate crime of any sort. He was just saying the act of walking into a school with a gun and shooting and killing people is an act of hatred. Students tell CNN that they were unsure what was going on when that shooting began, but they quickly realized something had gone horribly, horribly wrong. My first initial reaction was my sister, because she's she's a freshman. And I was like, okay, she's in this school as well. I needed to make sure that she's okay. And then that's when I texted my mom and my dad. I was like, I love you guys. If anything happens, like, you know, my my automatic thought was like apologizing for some reason because I hadn't, like, I'm obviously not a perfect daughter, but I was like, I'm sorry guys. Like, I love you guys so much. And I was kind of like my initial reaction. I started shaking a lot and that's when I started crying as well. I was trying to text a lot of my friends, but unfortunately the like everything was down, so all I could really do was text the people that I have like numbers of let's get straight to CNN's Isabel Rosales, who is on the ground for us in Winder, Georgia, where this took place. Isabel, you're with a student there. Hey, Jake. Yes, I am with a student. Introduce you to her in just a moment. But that Sheriff Judd Smith, incredibly emotional, gathering his breath, gathering his thoughts, his emotions, saying that he was born and raised here. He went to the school district. His own children go to this school district. And he's told us he never imagined the day where he would have to stand in front of the media, local, state, national media and talk about the pure evil, he said. That has happened here in his own community, and to know that it was a 14 year old boy, a student, who created this, act of violence. Let me introduce you to Lila, who's 16 years old. She was actually in algebra class just this morning, elbow to elbow with that shooter, Colt gray, as he's been named by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. Let me first start with how are you? How are you coping? okay. pushing through it, talking to friends, making sure, you know everybody else is okay, checking on people around me. Can you bring me back? What happened? I just remember, like, the moment that it happened, he was at the door, and they. I knew they were looking for him already, but he was at the door, and they almost let him in until they backed up. And then he turned away. And that's when you hear, like, the first rounds of fire. So he was in class with you in algebra class. He left. Then he came back, was at the door and then knocking to be let back in. Why the. You told me something about the doors? yeah. They lock automatically, so you have to be let in to come back into our classroom. so I think he wanted to come to us first. Come to you first to shoot? Yes, to shoot US class. And then, he was at the door. Student went to open the door. And then what happened? She backed away. I think she saw him. Or maybe somebody said something, but I'm pretty sure she saw that he had a gun. And so she backed away. So she was about to let him into the class using to shoot the students. Saw that he had a gun, did not let him in. What happened next? He turns to the classroom to what would have been my right. And he just starts to shoot and you hear like about 10 or 15 rounds back to back. What did you hear? what did you think was going on in those moments? when as soon as I didn't let him in, you kind of like, I don't know, I already kind of had a feeling it was going to happen and it was him. But as soon as they didn't let him in and you hear the gunshots, you kind of like, know you knew that something very bad was happening next door. Did he ever say anything? No, he never really talked. He was pretty quiet. He wasn't there. Most times either. He just didn't come to school or he just would skip class. But even when he would have talks, it was one word answers or just short statements. You told me off camera you weren't surprised that he would be the the shooter. Why is that? Just because when you think of like shooters and how they act or things that they do, it's usually the quiet kid or like that's a stereotype for it to be. And he was the one that fit that description in our class. Did you ever see the gun or the the student that go to the door? see the gun? Describe it to you guys? No, I haven't talked with her after this. It was all pretty hectic. but I didn't see the gun. Did he ever have, a hobby of guns hunting? Did he ever talk about any of that? No, he never really talked. Can you tell me what it was like inside of the classroom when you hear those gunshots go off? How? I heard that you helped to keep the other students calm, right? Yeah. Most of that, like when we heard it, most people just dropped to the floor and, like, kind of crawled in an area, like, piled on top of each other, lost a shoe. And they were, you know, trying to get to a corner. The teacher turned off the lights, but we all just kind of piled together and like, I pushed desks in front of us. I was just telling people like, oh, pushed us in front of you, block in front of you. You get low things like that. and are there any metal detectors in the school? No, not that I know of. Did you guys drill for active shooters? We know that some school districts do that. They were silent drills, so we stayed in our seats. The teachers kept teaching through them. I think it was more for like the system of it instead of like preparing us. How quickly, from the moment that you heard the gunshots go off to the hard lockdown alert going on the screens, letting everyone else in the school know that something had gone wrong? how long did that take? Do you recall? Maybe a couple minutes. But it wasn't instant. At what point did you know that this was over? When the cops came in the room and asked us to put our hands up, asked us if we had anything a little bit after that, they let us all out. But when it was kind of quiet, you hear like cops yelling, but it's kind of quiet. There's no more gunshots, things like that. Yeah. What was that communication like with your parents? I mean, all of us have phones nowadays. I spoke with many students, texting what they thought might be their last words to their parents. what was that like for you? I called my mom. I called her, and I was like, oh, the shooting at the school. She thought it was like she didn't believe me at first. And I was like, no, they actually are. And I talked to her for a second and she was like, oh, I'm on my way right now. And then I was like, okay, I gotta go call other people. I text all my friends in the school, out of school everywhere, and I'm just texting and calling kind of everybody. And what was that like leaving the school? I saw videos, of officers escorting the students with their hands raised. What was that like for you? it was protocol, obviously, but I was glad it was over. Like, I was glad we were able to leave. I was looking for my friends that were there. I was comforting the ones that had been through a little bit of a harder time. And then, Lila, what what would you say to this student that you were just elbow to elbow with just this morning in algebra class, and now this? I'm not sure I want to know why he did it. I think that would be a. I want to know why I thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it and the best to you and your family and your community. Thank you for talking to us, Jake. Isabel, you asked a question at the briefing just moments ago. what what did you learn? Yeah. Jake, I asked Sheriff Judd Smith if they had had any sort of prior warning, any sort of calls or threats made to the school, because I did hear that from some of the students here on the ground that they had heard murmurings that that had happened before the shooting occurred. But the sheriff said he wasn't aware of any such reports. All right. Thank you. Isabel Rosales, remarkable interview just there, with that young lady, a kid that shouldn't have had to go through what she just went through. Another teen in Appalachia high school told CNN earlier today that she thought she was going to die.