Four people have been killed and nine injured in a high school shooting in Georgia.
Yesterday (September 4) at around 10:20am local time, police received reports of an active shooter at Apalachee High School in Winder, Barrow County.
Nine people are reported by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as having been injured, with two pupils – 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo – and two teachers – Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall – having passed away.
A 14-year-old student from the school has since been arrested – and named – set to be tried as an adult.
Local sheriff Jud Smith said in a news conference: “Within minutes law enforcement was on scene, as well as two school resource officers assigned to the school who immediately encountered the subject.
“The subject immediately surrendered. He gave up, got on the ground. And the officers took him into custody.”
Later in the conference, Sheriff Smith emphasized law enforcement had a ‘very swift response’ to the alert of an active shooter and noted he is ‘extremely grateful’ to the ‘partnerships’ between several different authorities in responding to the scene.
The 14-year-old arrested has since been named as Colt Gray and has been confirmed as being a student at the high school.
The teenager is set to be tried as an adult and it’s since been revealed he was interviewed by the FBI in May 2023.
The 14-year-old suspect has since been named (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
The FBI received anonymous reports that someone was making ‘online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time’ and that’s when Gray was interviewed, alongside his father, BBC reports.
Gray denied making the online threats and he was not arrested at the time.
The FBI said in a statement: “The father stated that he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them.
“[…] “At the time, there was no probable cause for an arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state or federal levels.”
Instead, local schools were ‘alerted’ for ‘continued monitoring of the subject’.
Later in the news conference, Sheriff Smith explained authorities are now ‘collecting evidence’ and ‘conducting interviews’.
He added: “If anyone has any information that wants to be passed on concerning this investigation they can do that anonymously at our tip line at 1 800 597 TIPS or 1 800 597 8477. They can also report this by downloading the ‘See Something Say Something’ app.”
Sheriff Smith resolved: “What is more important for me to mention here to you is my heartfelt sympathy to the parents, the students that were here today, regardless of where they were in the school this has got a great impact on them as well as on this community. My thoughts and prayers along with everybody standing behind me in every law enforcement agency in this state […] they are in our thoughts and prayers.”
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends on (877) 969-0010.
