TIMELINE: 4 killed, 9 injured in mass shooting at Georgia high school, police says

WINDER, Ga. — According to our sister station WSBTV, has confirmed that four people were killed and nine others were wounded in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County Wednesday morning.

The incident first unfolded around 10:20 a.m. when officers from multiple agencies and Fire/EMS personnel were dispatched to the high school after reports of an active shooter. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, school resource officers quickly responded to the situation and the shooter surrendered to them.

The shooter has been identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, who has been charged with murder and will be handled as an adult, according to the GBI. The FBI confirmed to WSBTV that Gray had been investigated for making school shooting threats last year, but was not arrested.

The GBI said Gray used an AR platform-style weapon.

▶ WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS

9:19 p.m. Update:

According to our sister station WSBTV, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said two students and two teachers were among the dead. They’ve been identified as:

Mason Shermerhorn, 14

Christian Angelo, 14

Richard Aspinwall

Christina Irimie

All patients at NGMC Barrow and Braselton who were injured have been treated and released. The patient at NGMC Gainesville is stable.

The GBI said they believe everyone else will survive the shooting.

9:07 p.m.:

According to our sister station WSBTV, Gov. Brian Kemp is addressing the media for the first since four people were killed and nine were injured in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School.

“This hits home for us. Being from Athens just down the road, having a daughter that taught first grade just a few years ago, this is our worst nightmare,” Kemp said.

8:13 p.m.:

According to our sister station WSBTV, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI Atlanta have released a statement saying that in May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center got several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location. The threats, which were posted to an online gaming site, contained pictures of guns.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office located a possible subject, a 13-year-old boy, who denied making the threats. They spoke to the teen’s father, who said the family did own hunting rifles but the teen did not have access to guns. At the time, there was no probable cause for arrest.

The FBI has confirmed to WSBTV Investigative Reporter Justin Gray that the 13-year-old was Colt Gray, the same teen arrested in connection to the shooting that killed four people at Apalachee High School.

7:46 p.m.:

The GBI says they will update the media again tonight at 9 p.m., according to our sister station WSBTV.

The GBI now says eight of the people injured in the shooting are students and one is a teacher. The severity of their injuries has not been released.

7:15 p.m.:

According to our sister station WSBTV, The GBI and ATF have swarmed what appears to be the suspected shooter’s house. They appear to be collecting evidence.

All Barrow County Schools will be closed on Thursday and Friday.

Original Story:

A 14-year-old student opened fire at a Georgia high school and killed four people on Wednesday, authorities said, sending students scrambling for shelter in their classrooms — and eventually to the football stadium — as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe.

The dead were identified as two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta. At least nine other people were taken to hospitals with injuries.

The words “hard lockdown” appeared on a screen in junior Layla Ferrell’s health class and lights began flashing. She and her frightened classmates piled desks and chairs in front of the door to create a barricade, she recalled.

Sophomore Kaylee Abner was in geometry class when she heard the gunshots. She and her classmates ducked behind their teacher’s desk, and then the teacher began flipping the desk in an attempt to barricade the classroom door, Abner said. A classmate beside her was praying, and she held his hand while they all waited for police.

After students poured into the football stadium, Abner saw teachers who had taken off their shirts to help treat gunshot wounds.

Two school resource officers encountered the shooter within minutes after a report of shots fired went out, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said. The suspect, a student at the school, immediately surrendered and was taken into custody. He is being charged as an adult with murder.

Read: Georgia high school shooting: 4 killed, 9 injured at Apalachee High School, GBI says

0 of 63

Authorities were still looking into how the suspect obtained the gun used in the shooting and got it into the school in Barrow County, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. At an afternoon news conference, officials would not say what type of gun was used.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith choked up as he began to speak during the briefing. He said he was born and raised in the community and his kids are in the school system.

“My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community,” he said. “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.”

It was the the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to active shooter drills in classrooms. But they have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.

Photos: Georgia school on lockdown after reports of shots fired

Before Wednesday, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.

Last year ended with 217 deaths from 42 mass killings, making 2023 one of the deadliest years on record for such shootings in the country.

On Wednesday in Georgia, sophomore football player Jacob King said he had dozed off in his world history class after a morning practice when he heard about 10 gunshots.

King said he didn’t believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yelling at someone to put down their gun. When his class was led out, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be an injured student.

Read: The suspect in the Chicago-area L train shooting will be held until trial, a judge rules

Ashley Enoh was at home in the morning when she got a text from her brother, a senior at Apalachee High: “Just so you know, I love you.”

When Erin Clark, 42, received a text from her son Ethan, a senior, saying there was an active shooter, she rushed from her job at the Amazon warehouse to the school. The two texted “I love you,” and Clark said she prayed for her him as she drove.

With the main road to the school blocked, she parked and ran with other parents. They were directed to the football field, and amid the chaos, Clark found Ethan sitting on the bleachers.

Clark said her son was writing an essay in class when he first heard gunfire. He worked with his classmates to barricade the door and hide.

“I’m so proud of him for doing that,” she said. “He was so brave.”

“It makes me scared to send him back,” Clark said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Traffic going to the school was backed up for more than a mile as parents tried to get to their children. Barrow County schools will be closed for the rest of the week as they cooperate with the investigation, but grief counseling will be available.

“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,” Vice President Kamala Harris said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

In a message posted to social media, former President Donald Trump said: “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement: “This is a day every parent dreads, and Georgians everywhere will hug their children tighter this evening because of this painful event.”

The FBI’s Atlanta office said its agents were at the school “coordinating with and supporting local law enforcement.”

Apalachee High School has about 1,900 students, according to records from Georgia education officials. It opened in 2000, and is named after the Apalachee River on the southern edge of Barrow County, according to the school system.

The shooting had reverberations in Atlanta, where Mayor Andre Dickens said patrols of schools were beefed up.

In Winder, Abner said that when she goes home Wednesday night, she hopes to avoid thinking about those terrifying moments in her geometry class.

“I’ll probably not think about it, even though it happened,” she said. “Just think happy thoughts, don’t think about it anymore.”

Sophomore Shantal Sanvee, who was in a classroom near the gunshots, said “I saw, like, a whole lot of blood. And it was just, it was just horrible.”

“I don’t think I want to be here for like a long time now,” she added.

As an officer led students towards the stadium, freshman Michelle Moncada was in tears. People she knew had been shot, and she saw one friend on the floor who had been grazed by a bullet.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Moncada said.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.

©2024 Cox Media Group