A tragic yet sadly all-too-familiar scene played out on Wednesday, when 14-year-old Colt Gray opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. Two students and two adults were killed and nine others were injured at the school about 50 miles outside Atlanta. Gray surrendered at the scene.
Since then, details have emerged about Gray and what might have motivated the Apalachee attack, which, at this writing, was the 23rd K–12 school shooting in 2024, according to Education Week, an outlet covering education news. Other organizations, such as the National Gun Violence Archive, reflect different totals, depending on how their data is compiled.
What happened at Apalachee High School?
According to Gray’s classmates, the 14-year-old left his algebra class unexpectedly on the morning of Sept. 4. He returned and tried to reenter the classroom a short time later, but found the door had locked automatically. Reportedly, other students tried to let Gray back in, but witnesses said those students seemed to see something — presumably the gun — and backed away.
Gray then opened fire in the hallway with an “AR-platform-style weapon” as the students and teacher inside the math class sought cover and the school entered lockdown, The New York Times reported. Two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn, and Christian Angulo, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, were killed in the attack.
Gray surrendered when two school resource officers engaged him in the hallway and he was taken into custody. He was held at a youth detention center, but Georgia authorities say Gray would face murder charges as an adult. Gray’s school reportedly received a phone call earlier that day stating there would be a school shooting at five schools in the area, and Apalachee would be the first. It’s unclear if students and staff at the school were notified of the threat. It’s unknown who placed the call.
At this writing, Gray was expected to make a virtual court appearance on Fri. Sept. 6, and Gray’s motive had not yet been determined. It’s also unclear if Gray targeted those who died. Apalachee was the deadliest school shooting in Georgia history.
The 2023 investigation
About a year before the Apalachee attack, Georgia law enforcement was notified that Colt Gray, then 13 years old, had posted a school shooting threat on Discord. Local authorities informed the FBI, who spoke with Gray and his father. Gray denied posting the threat, which included pictures of guns, and there was insufficient evidence to make an arrest.
“The father stated that he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them,” an FBI statement said, according to the BBC. “At the time, there was no probable cause for an arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels,” the statement added.
At that time, Gray’s father said Colt’s mother didn’t live in the home, and that in the past, his son had trouble in school, but he was improving. Gray’s classmates described him as “quiet.” Gray, a freshman, had only just transferred to Apalachee when the shooting happened.
Political response
The Winder tragedy came amid the 2024 presidential campaign and highlighted the ongoing and divisive topic of sensible gun control. “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster,” GOP candidate Donald Trump posted on Truth Social.
“It’s just outrageous that every day in our country… that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether their child will come home alive,” Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris said at a New Hampshire campaign stop. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Harris added.
“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 in Winder, Georgia,” President Biden wrote in part on X. Meanwhile, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp called on “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state.”
At this writing, the Apalachee school shooting was under investigation and it was still unclear how Gray got the gun. He is the youngest suspect in U.S. history to face school shooting charges in an attack that killed more than one person.
Published: Sep 5, 2024 01:13 pm