Two students and two teachers were killed and nine others were injured in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, authorities said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The suspect is a 14-year-old student at the school who immediately surrendered after being confronted by school resource officers, said Chris Hosey, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The teen, identified as Colt Gray, will be prosecuted as an adult, he added. The suspect has been charged with four counts of felony murder with additional charges expected, the GBI said on Thursday.
The victims of the shooting have been identified as students Mason Schermerhorn, 14; and Christian Angulo, 14; and math teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39; and Christina Irimie, 53. Aspinwall was also a defensive coordinator for the school’s football team, NBC News reported.
In a news conference Wednesday night, officials said all nine people injured — eight students and one teacher — were hurt by gunfire in some capacity but are expected to recover.
The suspected shooter used “AR platform-style weapon,” Hosey said Wednesday. There’s no evidence of any additional shooters, he added. Investigators are working to determine if there are any active threats against other schools in Georgia, Hosey said.
FBI investigated past threats
The FBI’s Atlanta field office and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office released a joint statement saying the suspect was interviewed by law enforcement in May 2023 over alleged online threats about a school shooting. The suspect’s father was also interviewed at the time, and told police that the child, then 13, did not have unsupervised access to his hunting rifles. Though school officials were notified, authorities at the time determined they had no probable cause to make an arrest or pursue the matter any further.
Officials have not commented on a potential motive. The suspected shooter had shown interest in prior mass shootings, including the 2018 shooting at Parkland High School in Florida, two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told reporters that investigators have not determined how the suspect obtained a firearm.
The suspect will have his first court appearance on Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET, the Georgia Department of Corrections told NBC News. He is expected to appear virtually from the Gainesville Youth Detention Center, where he is being held.
Law enforcement officers and emergency services personnel responded to reports of an active shooting shortly before 10:30 a.m., the sheriff’s office said earlier.
About 1,800 students attend Apalachee High School in Barrow County, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. The school has been in session since Aug. 1, according to its student calendar. All county schools will be closed the rest of the week, the school system’s superintendent said Wednesday.
At the news conference Wednesday night, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said, “This is everybody’s worst nightmare,” adding, “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 continuing to fight through just a tragic time.”
Miguel Eduardo Perichi Orta, a 10th grader at Apalachee, spoke with NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta about the fear he felt during the shooting. He said his stomach dropped when the students were finally let out of the classroom and he saw blood and gunpowder on the ground.
“It was heartbreaking to see that,” he told WXIA.
He added: “If something like this can happen here, when you think it’s a normal day, it can happen anywhere, and that’s what really hurts.”
‘We have to end this epidemic of gun violence’
In a statement, President Joe Biden thanked the first responders and said that he and first lady Jill Biden are mourning the victims. The shooting, he said, is a “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. We cannot continue to accept this as normal,” added Biden, urging Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats “to pass common-sense gun safety legislation.”
At a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris called the shooting a “senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies” and said: “We have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all.”
Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, addressed the shooting in a post on Truth Social, writing, “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
At a scheduled news conference earlier in the day, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he was “devastated for the families” of those affected by the shooting, adding that the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working with state and local law enforcement officials.
Mass shootings, including in schools, are a uniquely American problem. So far in 2024, there have been more than 385 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as having four or more people shot or killed, not including the shooter.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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