The 14-year-old suspect in the fatal mass shooting at a Winder, Georgia, high school will be booked Wednesday night, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at an evening news conference.
Colt Gray will be charged with murder in connection with the deaths of two teachers and two students at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, authorities said.
Gray is a student at Apalachee High School and will be handled as an adult as he moves through the court system, Hosey said at an earlier news conference.
Hosey said the gun was an AR-platform weapon while a law enforcement official earlier told CNN it was an AR-15-style.
Wednesday’s shooting is the deadliest of the 45 school shootings so far this calendar year, according to a CNN analysis.
It is one of 11 school shootings with four or more deaths since 2008, when CNN first started tracking school shootings.
Witness sat next to suspected shooter Lyela Sayarath, 16, told CNN the alleged shooter sat next to her in an algebra class.
“Love you too baby,” his mom texted before racing to the high school.
The Barrow County School System is the 24th largest school district in the state, per the district’s website.
It serves about 15,340 students, 1,932 of whom are enrolled at Apalachee High School.
Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Chris Hosey announced during an evening news conference that the 14-year-old suspect in the deadly mass shooting at a high school in Winder, Georgia, will be booked on Wednesday night.
According to officials, Colt Gray will face murder charges in relation to the deaths of two instructors and two students at Winder, Georgia’s Apalachee High School.
Hosey identified the victims as 14-year-old Mason Schermerhorn, 14-year-old Christian Angulo, 39-year-old Richard Aspinwall, and 53-year-old Christina Irimie. According to the school’s website, Aspinwall was an assistant football coach in addition to being a math teacher.
Hosey stated at a previous press conference that Gray is an Apalachee High School student and will be treated as an adult when he goes through the legal system.
According to the GBI, nine additional victims—eight students and one teacher—were taken to hospitals after the shooting on Wednesday morning.
In contrast to what a law enforcement official had earlier told CNN, Hosey claimed the gun was an AR-platform weapon.
Schools throughout the county went into lockdown as a result of the gunfire, sending staff and students running for their lives for cover while parents frantically sought out information.
14-year-old Macey Right texted her mother during the shooting, claiming to have heard gunshots and requesting her to come get her. She said, “In their classroom, Right and her friends held hands and prayed.”. Macey claimed that they were interrupted moments later by yelling and banging.
“People were screaming and pleading not to get shot when I heard gunshots outside my classroom,” Macey remarked. “Then, people sitting next to me were just shaking and crying.”.
Watch live updates as police attend to a reported shooting at a high school in Georgia.
Last year, the suspect and his father had a conversation with the authorities.
In a joint statement from the FBI’s Atlanta office and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the two agencies stated that the FBI received “several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time” and that this led to the suspect’s interview with local law enforcement in May 2023.
According to the statement, there were pictures of guns in the online threats.
“Although the subject did not have any hunting guns, the father claimed to have them in the house.
unmonitored access to them,” the declaration read. “The individual refuted uttering the threats on the internet. “.
According to the FBI, there was not at the time any reason to suspect someone of being arrested.
According to a CNN analysis, of the 45 school shootings that have occurred this year, Wednesday’s shooting is the deadliest. Since 2008, when CNN began keeping track of school shootings, there have been 11 shootings at schools that have resulted in four or more fatalities.
According to the authorities, at 10:20 a.m., the first report of an active shooter was received. M. EST. The gunman was confronted by an Apalachee High school resource deputy, dropped to the ground, and was apprehended, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told reporters.
Witness sat down beside the alleged gunman.
The 16-year-old Lyela Sayarath told CNN that the alleged shooter was seated next to her during an algebra lesson.
Around 9:45 a.m., she said, he left class early. m. , but skipped the bathroom pass. She suspected he was skipping.
She mentioned that toward the end of class, someone announced over the intercom that they needed to check their email.
A little while later, Lyela reported, Gray was outside the closed classroom door. When she saw he had a gun, a fellow student who had gone to the door jumped back.
Lyela remarked, “I suppose he realized we weren’t going to let him in.”. “And I suppose he just started shooting in the classroom because the door was open in the one next to mine. “.
She first reported hearing gunfire on CNN, describing it as a burst of perhaps ten to fifteen shots, and then that the shots were “kind of just one after another.”. “.
Lyela reported that the students dropped to the ground and crawled to the corner.
His failure to attempt to shoot our door suggested that either he hadn’t planned this out well or that he wasn’t very skilled with the gun. He simply moved on to the next room as soon as he realized he couldn’t enter ours. “.
most recent progress.
Multiple law enforcement officials told CNN that the high school had received a phone threat earlier. The call that came through on Wednesday morning said that Apalachee would be the first of five schools to experience a shooting. Who called is unknown.
Smith reported that investigators have communicated with the family of the alleged shooter and spoken with him.
• The sheriff stated that although officials emphasized that will be a part of the investigation, it was not immediately known whether the attacker had any relationship to his victims.
• For the remainder of the week, all schools in Barrow County are closed.
• The Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines mass shootings as those in which four or more victims are shot, reports that there have been at least 385 mass shootings in the US so far this year. That is more than one in five mass shootings each day on average.
“I’m scared,” the student texted his mother.
On Wednesday morning, Erin Clark received a series of texts from her senior son who was enrolled in Apalachee High School while she was at work.
“Shooting at a school. “.
“I’m afraid,” he wrote.
“Please” and “I’m not kidding,” read the barrage of messages.
Clark said, “I’m leaving work.”. The 17-year-old son of the woman wrote back, “I love you.”.
“I love you too, baby,” his mother texted him just before she hurried to the high school.
According to Clark, who spoke with CNN, her son heard eight or nine gunshots before locking his classroom door and moving tables and chairs to block the entrance with the assistance of a fellow student.
Reading her son’s messages, Clark told CNN, left her feeling “absolutely terrified.”. “I just prayed that he would be safe,” she remarked.
The county’s schools were placed on lockdown.
Several counties sent emergency responders to the scene, and footage taken from outside the school revealed at least five ambulances, a sizable police presence, and at least one medical helicopter airlifting a patient from the scene.
When the students were ordered to congregate at the football field, some bowed their heads and stood on the letters for “Apalachee” to form a prayer circle in the end zone while their classmates milled around the field.
The sources claim that all high schools in the Barrow County School System, which includes the high school, were placed on lockdown and that police were dispatched to all district high schools as a precaution. However, no secondary incidents or scenes have been reported.
Additional helicopters are on standby to assist with the removal of some of the critically injured.
Patients are transferred to other hospitals by the Atlanta Trauma Center.
One gunshot victim from the incident was flown by helicopter to Grady Health System, a Level 1 trauma center in Atlanta, approximately one hour’s drive from Winder, a hospital representative told CNN.
Two victims of the shooting were taken to Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital in North Georgia, according to a source with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak to the media earlier. One victim, an adult with a gunshot wound to the stomach who was undergoing surgery, and another, a minor, are said to have unidentified injuries, according to the source.
After the shooting, three gunshot victims were taken to neighboring hospitals, a hospital official said, and five more patients arrived with symptoms resembling a panic attack.
According to Northeast Georgia Health System spokesperson Layne Saliba, two gunshot victims were transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow with non-life-threatening wounds. Four additional patients arrived with symptoms resembling panic attacks.
According to Saliba, two gunshot victims were transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Centers in Gainesville and Braselton, respectively. The other victim had non-life-threatening injuries and presented with symptoms resembling a panic attack.
The governor of Georgia promises to send resources and offers prayers.
Georgian Gov. According to a statement posted on social media, Brian Kemp has ordered all state resources to help at the scene. “All Georgians should join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state,” the governor tweeted. “.
State and local officials have been offered federal support after President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident, according to the White House.
In a statement, the White House stated, “His administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information.”.
In a similar vein, US Attorney General Merrick Garland declared that the department “stands ready” to assist the community following the shooting.
At a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, Garland stated, “We are still gathering information, but the FBI and ATF are on the scene, working with state, local, and federal partners.”.
The US Census Bureau estimates that Winder’s population was 18,338 in 2020. According to the district website, the Barrow County School System is the 24th largest school district in the state. Apalachee High School is home to 1,932 of the 15,340 students it teaches.
We will be updating this story as it develops.
While Nick Valencia covered stories from Atlanta, Isabel Rosales of CNN reported from Winder. John Miller and Dakin Andone of CNN reported from New York. Contributors to this report included Shawn Nottingham, Rebekah Riess, Devan Cole, Hannah Rabinowitz, Mark Morales, Josh Campbell, Maureen Chowdhury, Amy O’Kruk, Taylor Galgano, Jaide Timm-Garcia, Holly Yan, Steve Almasy, and Josh Campbell.
