2 students, 2 teachers killed at Georgia high school; shooter was 14-year-old student, police say
Four people — two students and two teachers — were killed and nine others were injured in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
The suspect has been identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at the high school.
The shooter will be charged with murder and will be tried as an adult. He will be booked Wednesday night, according to GBI.
During a news conference on Wednesday night, GBI Director Director Chris Hosey identified the four people who were killed.
“There are four individuals who are deceased from this incident. Nine that 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.
He said the two students who were killed were both 14 years old. They have been identified as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.
The teachers who were killed are Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, according to Hosey. Both of those teachers are listed in the high school's online staff directory as math teachers.
The nine other people who were injured have not yet been identified. Of the nine, eight were students and one was a teacher, according to investigators. On Wednesday night, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said all of the victims who were hospitalized are expected to recover.
“We don’t expect any more fatalities at this time,” Smith said.
What we know:
- Four people — two students and two teachers — were killed and nine others were injured in a shooting at Apalachee High School.
- The suspect was identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at the high school.
- The shooter was slated to be booked Wednesday night and charged with murder. He will be tried as an adult, according to GBI.
- GBI identified the two students who were killed as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14 years old.
- The two teachers who were killed have been identified as Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie.
Video below: Apalachee High School student discusses being evacuated after shooting
The Barrow County Sheriff's Office received reports of a shooting at the school at about 10:20 a.m. ET, and authorities arrived at the school minutes later, GBI said during a 4 p.m. ET press conference.
A school resource deputy assigned to the school came in contact with the suspect, who surrendered by getting on the ground. The suspect was then taken into custody by a deputy. During the press conference on Wednesday night, investigators said they are still investigating how the suspect got an “AR-platform style weapon” into the school.
“We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline from the time that he got here to school today until the incident took place,” Hosey said.
The investigation is ongoing.
Video below: During a daytime press conference, GBI director said shooting victims included 2 students and 2 teachers
"What you see behind us is an evil thing," Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said earlier in the day Wednesday, standing outside the school.
Apalachee High School received a phone call on Wednesday morning, warning that there would be shootings at five schools and that Apalachee would be the first, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN.
It is not known who placed the call. Officials told CNN that they are investigating the call and where it originated.
Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed the shooting during a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force on Wednesday. "I want to address the tragic shooting that occurred this morning at a high school in Winder, Georgia. We are still gathering information, but the FBI and ATF are on the scene working with state, local and federal partners,” Garland said.
In a statement released Wednesday night, FBI Atlanta confirmed that it responded to Apalachee High School following reports of an active shooter and that FBI personnel has been coordinating with and supporting local and state law enforcement.
In the Wednesday evening statement, FBI Atlanta said that in May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center “received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time. The online threats contained photographs of guns."
FBI Atlanta said that within 24 hours of receiving the tips in May 2023, the FBI determined "the online post originated in Georgia and the FBI's Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office for action.” In the statement, the FBI said that the sheriff’s office “located a possible subject, a 13-year-old male, and interviewed him and his father.”
At the time, the father told investigators that he had hunting guns in the house, but that “the subject did not have unsupervised access to them,” FBI Atlanta said.
“The subject denied making the threats online. Jackson County alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject,” the FBI said in the statement on Wednesday night. “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.”
In the statement Wednesday night, FBI Atlanta did not say whether the teenager accused of the shooting at Apalachee High School is the same teenager who was interviewed following the tip it received in May 2023. However, during the nighttime press conference on Wednesday, Hosey said that the teenager referenced in the FBI Atlanta statement is the same suspect who is in custody.
"This is not recent, this is in the past but we wanted to bring that to your attention because we are pursuing that, working with the FBI on that, and any connection to that incident that could be connected to today's incident as well," Hosey said of the information referenced in the FBI Atlanta statement.
In a Facebook post late Wednesday night, GBI said there is no evidence to suggest that there were additional shooters, and that "investigators are actively pursuing all leads regarding any potential associates of the shooter."
"There is no evidence of a list of schools being targeted; however, there is a lot of evidence that is being recovered and evaluated," GBI said in the Facebook post. "Investigators are diligently reviewing leads to determine if there are any active threats."
In the same Facebook post, GBI addressed a call that was made to another high school in the area on Wednesday morning.
"There was a call to another local high school this morning with a reported threat. Police responded, investigated, and determined there was no threat," GBI said in the Facebook post.
Video below: Students gather in prayer circle after deadly Georgia school shooting
President Joe Biden released a statement on the shooting, saying, "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 the statement, Biden goes on to call for Republicans to work with Democrats in Congress to pass gun safety legislation.
"After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say 'enough is enough' and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation," the statement read. "We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers."
Video below: White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reacts to Georgia school shooting
Vice President Kamala Harris called the shooting a "senseless tragedy."
Speaking at a rally in New Hampshire on Wednesday, the Democratic presidential nominee said her heart is with the students and teachers of the school. She called for action to curb gun violence.
"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 said. "We’ve got to stop it," she said, adding that "it doesn’t have to be this way."
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, "Our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, GA. These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster."
In a statement posted to X, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said that additional security has been deployed to Atlanta Public Schools "out of an abundance of caution."
The state's governor has also commented on the shooting.
"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," Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement posted to his X page. "We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners as we gather information and further respond to this situation."
The governor also spoke at the news conference on Wednesday night.
“This is everybody’s worst nightmare and I just want to offer my sincere condolences and our thoughts and prayers to the families that have lost loved ones, for those that are injured and continuing to fight through just a tragic time,” Kemp said Wednesday night.
Apalachee High School has nearly 1,900 students in grades 9-12.
The school is in the city of Winder, about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta.
CNN contributed to this report.