4 DEAD, 9 INJURED in Georgia High School Shooting; 14-year-old Suspect in Custody
A shooting at a high school in northern Georgia on Wednesday morning killed four people and injured nine more.
At an afternoon press conference, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey stated that two of the deaths were students and two were instructors from Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
Hosey identified the suspect as 14-year-old Colt Gray, who is a student at the school. He was taken into custody alive. The alleged gunman will be charged with murder and “handled” as an adult, Hosey said.
The fatalities were named as Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. According to the school’s website, both Aspinwall and Irimie taught mathematics.
All nine hospitalized victims had been shot “in some capacity,” according to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith. Smith said all nine were likely to survive. Smith said the individual surrendered after being challenged by responding law enforcement officials. Smith stated that the alleged gunman was speaking with officials, adding that these contacts were “helping with our investigation.” He was being housed in the Barrow County Detention Center.
Hosey stated that the alleged shooter utilized an AR platform-style gun and that there was no evidence of any other shooters being engaged. “We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline from the time he arrived at school today to the time the incident occurred,” Hosey said during a late-night news conference.
The FBI Atlanta said on social media Wednesday night that county authorities interviewed the suspect last year about online threats to perpetrate a school massacre.
According to FBI Atlanta, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center determined that the posts originated in Georgia, and “the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for action.”
The sheriff’s staff interrogated the 13-year-old youngster and his father. The child said he was not responsible for the threats. The father claimed to have hunting rifles in the house, but his son did not have “unsupervised access to them,” according to the FBI Atlanta.
“Jackson County notified local schools to continue monitoring the subject,” FBI Atlanta said. “At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels.”
Two gunshot victims were sent to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow, while one was brought to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville. All three sustained injuries that were not life-threatening. A representative for Grady Health System, which runs Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, earlier stated that personnel had received one gunshot wound patient from the high school.
In addition to the injured, a spokeswoman told CBS News that other patients arrived at the hospital with anxious symptoms and others were having panic attacks.
“This is a very, very fluid investigation,” explained Smith. “This is going to take multiple days for us to get answers as to what happened and why this happened.”
Administrators had already placed students and faculty on lockdown after allegations surfaced online of a possible active shooter at the school in Winder, Georgia, roughly 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Officers were sent to the scene at about 10:23 a.m. EDT, according to the sheriff. The school stated the premises were cleared within an hour, and pupils were being returned to their families.
According to Smith, law enforcement was aware of the danger due to a new security system installed approximately a week prior. Smith stated that there were three school resource officers on campus at the time of the shooting.
Georgia School Shooting Location
Marques Coleman, 14, a student at the school, told CBS station WANF that he was inside the classroom when the shooting occurred and felt compelled to look to his left. “I see a kid with a, he had like a big gun,” Coleman claimed, adding that the pupil had just begun shooting. “I jumped up, began running, and he started shooting like ten times. “He shot at least ten times.
Coleman claimed he dived behind the desk and his teacher rushed in front of him. “My teacher started barricading the door with desks,” he stated. After getting up, Coleman told WANF that he witnessed “one of my classmates on the ground bleeding so bad,” another lady shot in the knee, and a friend hit in the stomach.
“I just thank God I wasn’t hit in the middle of it all. I was just thanking God because, you know, he had his hands around me and all, and I could have been the one to get here because I was right there. He could have easily grabbed me. “But God had his hands around me,” Coleman explained.
2 SERIOUSLY INJURED IN SOUTH SIDE CRASH Involving Chicago Police Squad Car, Fire Dept. Reports
At around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, WANF reported a large police presence on the school’s grounds. Aerial footage from the television station showed dozens of ambulances, officers, and a medical helicopter congregated in the parking lot and on the green space outside the building. At the time, at least one victim was transported to the helicopter on a stretcher, and students were evacuated to the school’s stadium, where busses were scheduled to pick them up, according to WANF.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were also dispatched to the area. In a social media post just before noon, the FBI Atlanta stated that they were “coordinating with and supporting local law enforcement.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp addressed the event in a social media statement issued around the same time, stating that his administration has mobilized state resources to assist with the reaction to what he described as a “incident at Apalachee High School.”
“I have directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School and urge all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state,” according to Kemp. “We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners as we gather information and further respond to this situation.”
President Biden and his administration were notified of the shooting, according to a statement from the White House Press Office.
“President Biden has been briefed by his Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall, on the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia and his administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information,” according to a statement.
Apalachee High School enrolls approximately 1,900 pupils. According to the district calendar, classes begin each day at 8:15 a.m. The superintendent said that Barrow County schools would be closed for the balance of the week.
