The teenage boy suspected of opening fire at his Georgia high school on Wednesday morning, killing four people, was interviewed by law enforcement last year after the FBI received anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting, according to the agency’s Atlanta Field Office.
The threats, which did not specify details such as place and time, included photos of guns, the field office said in a release. “Within 24 hours, 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,” the release stated.
The sheriff’s office tracked down a possible suspect, the teenager, then 13 years old, and interviewed both him and his father. The father told investigators that he kept hunting guns in the house, but that his son did not have unsupervised access to them.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 13-year-old denied making the threats. The sheriff’s office alerted local school administrators “for continued monitoring of the subject,” according to the release, but no further action was taken.
The boy, now 14, was earlier identified as Colt Gray, the alleged gunman behind Wednesday’s assault on Apalachee High School. He is believed to have used an AR platform-style weapon, but investigators are still looking into how he brought the firearm onto school grounds.
He “immediately surrendered” to two school resource officers who confronted him, and was taken into custody, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey.
The dead were identified by Hosey in an evening news conference as students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie.
A further nine people—eight teachers and one student—were hospitalized with various injuries, though Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said that no further fatalities were expected. “All of our victims that are at the hospital are going to make it and are going to recover well, as we’ve been told,” he said.
Law enforcement officials arrive to give a press conference outside of Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on September 4, 2024, after a shooting took place.
Christian Monterrosa/AFP via Getty ImagesA spokesperson for the North Georgia Medical Center told NBC News that eight patients had been taken to three hospitals in its system, including three with gunshot wounds. Five people presented with symptoms of a panic attack, the spokesperson said.
Hosey said it is believed that Gray acted alone, and that no further threat remained to the school or the district at large. A possible motive in Wednesday’s incident, the deadliest school shooting in state history, was not immediately shared by law enforcement.
“We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline from the time that he got here to school today until the incident,” the director added.
A classmate, Lyela Sayarath, told CNN that Gray left their classroom at the beginning of Algebra 1 that morning. He returned near the end of the period, knocking on the door.
Sayarath said that another student rose to let him back in, but noticed the gun and stopped. Gray then went next door and opened fire, she said.
Gray, who will be booked on Wednesday night, is expected to be charged with murder and tried as an adult.
“Throughout the day FBI personnel have been coordinating with and supporting local and state law enforcement,” the bureau’s Atlanta Field Office said. “The FBI will dedicate all available resources, as requested, to seek justice and bring closure for the victims and their families.”
At an earlier news conference, Smith, the sheriff, vowed that the “evil” that had descended on the community that day would not triumph.
“Hate will not prevail in this county,” he said. “I want that to be very clear and known. Love will prevail over what happened today. I assure you of that.”
