4 dead in Georgia high school shooting, 14-year-old student in custody
Sep 4, 2024, 10:58 AM | Updated: 7:58 pm
Students are evacuated to the football stadium after the school campus was placed on lockdown at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (Erin Clark via AP)
(Erin Clark via AP)
WINDER, Ga. — Two students and two teachers were killed and nine others were hospitalized in a shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the shooter was a 14-year-old boy.
Georgia officials have identified the boy as Colt Gray.
The GBI Director Chris Hosey has also identified the four victims, two teachers and two 14-year-old students.
The victims are identified as:
- Mason Schermerhorn, 14, student
- Christian Angulo, 14, student
- Richard Aspinwall, teacher
- Christina Irimie, teacher
The shooting happened Wednesday morning at Apalachee High School.
In a press conference, Chris Hosey, director of the GBI, said the shooter was an Apalachee High student. He is in custody and will be tried as an adult.
Hosey said police received calls about an active shooter around 10:20 a.m.
Police, along with two school resource officers, encountered the shooter just minutes after the reports went out.
Hosey said the teen immediately surrendered to officers and was taken into custody.
“Law enforcement had a very, very swift response to this incident once it was determined there was a concern here,” Hosey said.
The investigation remains active.
“Pure evil happened today”
During the press conference, Barrow County Sherriff Judd Smith said he never expected to encounter the “pure evil that happened today.”
“I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. I want to make that very clear and known. Love will prevail over what happened today, I assure you that,” Smith said.
He said the reasoning behind the shooting is still unknown, but said the 14-year-old had been speaking to law enforcement.
Smith said police would continue to investigate the events leading up to the shooting. He also urged the community to uplift the families involved and the students impacted.
Dallas LeDuff, the Barrow County School System superintendent, said the system’s schools would remain closed for the rest of the week.
However, he said, grief counseling would still be available to those in the school community.
