Kelly Rissman
Four people are dead and nine others injured following a mass shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday.
The shooting took place at Apalachee High School in Winder, an hour outside of Atlanta. The shooter was identified as 14-year-old student, Colt Gray, by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Two students and two teachers were killed. Mason Schermerhorn, 14, was identified by family members as one of the dead students. The other deceased victims were identified late on Wednesday as teachers Christina Emery and Richard Aspinwall, and student Kristen Angolo, 14.
The investigation is ongoing with yet another community reeling from gun violence in what is the 385th mass shooting in the country this year.
“My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for this community. But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
Here’s everything we know about the Georgia high school shooting.
What happened?
The chaos erupted at around 10.20am local time, when police responded to reports of an active shooter at the high school, 40 miles outside of Atlanta.
Minutes later, police arrived at the scene and “engaged” with the shooter.
Apalachee High School then went into “a hard lockdown” around 10.45 am, school officials told parents. “Law enforcement is here. Please do not attempt to come to the school at this time while officers work to secure the area,” a statement said.
Not long after the shooting, the suspect was placed into custody, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
By 1pm, local officials announced they were reuniting students with their parents.
At 2.15pm, the bureau confirmed that four people had died — two teachers and two students. At least nine others were injured and being treated at various hospitals.
Authorities warned local people to steer clear of the area surrounding the school as the investigation continues. Local, state, and federal law enforcement are assisting with the probe, according to the bureau.
The high school reportedly received a call before gunfire broke out this morning, which warned that Apalachee High would be the first of five schools to experience shootings, law enforcement sources told CNN. It’s not immediately known who placed the call. The Independent has contacted GBI for more information.
“Reports of additional shootings at nearby schools are false,” GBI said on Wednesday afternoon.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said the investigation could take “multiple days” to get to the bottom of what happened. “What you see behind us is an evil thing today,” the visibly emotional sheriff said during a press briefing.
The FBI revealed on Wednesday evening it investigated a series of online threats in 2023 to commit a school shooting that could be traced back to Gray.
Local police interviewed Gray, who denied making the threats. They also spoke with his father, who admitted he kept hunting guns in the house, though he said Gray did not have unsupervised access to them.
Who is the shooter?
GBI identified the suspected shooter as 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at Apalachee High School.
Gray will be charged with murder and handled as an adult, according to the bureau. No further details about the suspect, including how he came in possession of a firearm or what type of firearm was used, have been released.
Police said Gray is talking to investigators. Sheriff Smith said authorities are “still looking into how he obtained” a weapon.
What have students and parents said?
Some of Apalachee High’s 1,900 students and their parents recounted the terrifying experience.
Sergio Caldera, a 17-year-old senior, told ABC News that he was in chemistry class when shots rang out. “My teacher goes and opens the door to see what’s going on,” Caldera told the outlet. “Another teacher comes running in and tells her to close the door because there’s an active shooter.”
Caldera said someone banged on their classroom door and shouted “open up” several times. Afterward, he heard more gunshots and screams.
Another student, Camille Nelms, told WXIA about taking shelter as bullets came flying into her classroom: “I was crying, I didn’t want to die that way…I don’t want to meet the Lord that way.”
Student Miguel Eduardo Perichi Orta told WXIA he was “was shaking, scared” when he heard a “loud boom” followed by “banging” near his classroom. “I saw a huge puddle of blood in the classroom, and that really, it like dropped my stomach,” he said. “It was heartbreaking to see that.”
Orta also said he was “disappointed” in his school. “If something like this can happen here when you think it’s a normal day, it can happen anywhere,” he said.
In a Facebook post, one parent, whose child was close enough to hear gunshots, called the incident “a parent’s worst nightmare.”
How have officials responded?
In the aftermath of the shooting, all other Barrow County Schools were on a “soft lockdown,” the county school district said. Other Georgia school districts have offered their condolences and prayers to Apalachee High School.
Barrow County school system superintendent Dallas LeDuff said on Wednesday afternoon that the high school will be closed for the remainder of the week. He added that grief counseling will be available for the community.
President Joe Biden said “we cannot continue to accept this as normal” in the wake of the shooting.
“Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed,” the president said in a statement. “What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart.”
At a New Hampshire rally, Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, said: “This is a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies, and it’s just outrageous that every day in our country in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive.”
“We gotta stop it and we have to end this epidimeic of gun violence in our country once and for all - it doesn’t have to be this way,” she added.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz said there was “work to be done” to prevent similar “tragic” incidents. He said they are “all too common.”
Former president Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “Our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, GA. These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has directed all available state resources to the school, he said in a post on X. He also urged “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson called for swift justice in the aftermath of the tragedy.
“Our prayers go out today for the Apalachee High School community, and especially the victims and their families who have endured this terrible tragedy,” he said in a statement. “The officers of the Winder Police Department are commended for their quick action in apprehending the suspect.”
Gun safety groups were mourning yet another gun violence tragedy — the 385th mass shooting this year in the US, according to Gun Violence Archive.
“Students are barely a month into the semester. We don’t have to live like this. Our children shouldn’t be dying like this,” Everytown for Gun Safety posted on X.
Gun safety group Giffords similarly wrote: “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Our children should be able to go to school without being met with gun violence.”
Who were the victims?
Two male students, both aged 14, as well as a male and a female teacher, were killed in the mass shooting at Apalachee High School.
Mason Schermerhorn, 14, was identified by family members as one of the dead students. The other deceased victims were identified late on Wednesday as teachers Christina Emery and Richard Aspinwall, and student Kristen Angolo, 14.
Schermerhorn, who is autistic, was named by his mother to Channel 2 Action News. Family members had shared his photo on social media when they were unable to reach him.
Aspinwall was an assistant football coach as well as a teacher, according to the GBI.
Special education teacher David Phenix was among the nine people hospitalized. “We are so thankful for all the texts, calls, and messages about my dad, David Phenix. There was a shooting this morning at Apalachee High School and my dad was shot in the foot and in the hip, shattering his hip bone. He arrived to the hospital alert and awake. He just got out of surgery and is stable,” his daughter Katie Phenix posted on Facebook.
“We will update as we hear new information. We are so, so lucky, but please keep our family as well as the AHS family in your prayers.”
