Off The Record

Police Say A 14-Year-Old Boy Shot And Killed At Least 4 People At A School

Published on September 5, 2024

Nine people have been injured, and at least four people have died at Apalachee High School in Georgia.

The reports of an “active shooter” that began to come in at around 10.20 a.m. this morning led the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to reveal that a suspect was alive and in custody.

According to a CNN story from earlier today, the gunman at Apalachee High School is thought to have been a 14-year-old boy.

Since then, authorities have verified at a press conference that 14-year-old Colt Gray is the suspect. He attended the school as a student.

Chris Hosey, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, went on to say that Gray will face murder charges and face an adult trial.

Hosey also verified that nine people had been hurt and that four people had died—two teachers and two students.

“There are four individuals who are deceased from this incident. Nine have been taken to local hospitals with various injuries. Of those that are deceased, two were students and two were teachers here at the school,” Hosey said.

Since then, the victims have been named as 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, as well as teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie.

The Apalachee school website lists Aspinwall and Irimie as math teachers.

During a press conference earlier today, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith reported “multiple injuries.” It will take’multiple days’ to ascertain the precise events, he said, declining to provide any details.

“Every minute, it’s developing on what we’re finding,” he continued.

The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office further added in a statement that deputies and emergency medical personnel rushed to the school at around 10.30am after receiving a call about an ‘active shooter’ (previous reports claimed authorities received a call at around 9.30 and arrived to the school at around 10.20, but Hosey has since confirmed they received the call at around 10.20am).

Atlanta FBI agents were sent to the scene to support local law enforcement.

President Joe Biden addressed the shooting in a statement earlier today, writing: “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.”

“Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write,” he stated. “We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”

Speaking about the massacre at an event in New Hampshire today, Vice President Kamala Harris called it a “senseless tragedy.”

“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,” Harris stated.

“We’ve got to stop it,” she said before adding, “It doesn’t have to be this way.”