What we know so far
- Two students and two teachers were killed in the shooting yesterday at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, Nine others were injured.
- The 14-year-old suspect, Colt Gray, who used an AR-style weapon in the shooting, surrendered immediately and was taken into custody within minutes. He was charged with four counts of murder today.
- He was investigated last year in connection with threats to carry out a school shooting.
- The suspect's father, Colin Gray, 54, was arrested on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said today.
- The suspect was a new student at Apalachee High, having only been there for a partial day. The day of the shooting was his first full day at the school, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
- The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the victims killed as Mason Schermerhorn, 14; Christian Angulo, 14; Christina Irimie, 53; and Richard Aspinwall, 39.
- The nine wounded victims were expected to recover.
Father's arrest follows first-ever prosecution of parents in Michigan school shooting
Colin Gray's arrest comes months after James and Jennifer Crumbley became the first parents ever to be prosecuted and convicted for a school shooting committed by their child.
Gray, the father of the Apalachee High School shooting suspect, is alleged to have knowingly allowed his son to possess a weapon, the director of the GBI said.
In the Crumbley's case, the parents were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and other counts for the school shooting carried out by their then-15-year-old son, Ethan.
Ethan Crumbley killed four students and injured others when he opened fire at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021.
The prosecutor in the Crumbley case argued that James Crumbley bought his son the 9 mm Sig Sauer that was used in the school shooting, and that both parents failed to secure the weapon or take steps that could have prevented the shooting.
Charges against father ‘directly connected with the actions of his son,’ GBI director says
The charges against the father of the 14-year-old suspect are “directly connected” to his son's actions, the GBI director said.
“His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said.
Hosey would not say whether Gray gave his son the gun, just that he "knowingly allowed" him to possess it.
The suspect was armed with an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle, arrest warrants for the 14-year-old say.
Some of injured victims released from the hospital
Several of the nine people injured in Wednesday’s shooting remain hospitalized and some have been released, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
"All nine people that are injured are expected to make a full recovery," Smith said.
Four people, two students and two adults, were also killed in the shooting at Apalachee High School.
Father’s charges stem from allowing son to have weapon
The charges against Colin Gray, the father of the 14-year-old school shooting suspect revolve around the gun, GBI Director Chris Hosey said today.
“These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son Colt to possess a weapon,” Hosey said at a news conference.
Father of suspected shooter arrested
The father of the 14-year-old suspect in Wednesday’s high school shooting has been arrested on charges that include involuntary manslaughter.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation made the announcement on X and said a news conference will be held at 8 p.m. ET to discuss the matter.
Colin Gray, 54, was arrested on four counts of involuntary manslaughter; two counts of second degree murder; and eight counts of cruelty to children, the bureau said.
Suspect was armed with ‘black, semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle,’ warrant says
Arrest warrants for the 14-year-old suspect say he was armed with a “black, semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle.”
The four warrants are for felony murder, one for each of the four victims who were killed — two 14-year-old students and two teachers.
The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has previously described the gun as an “AR platform-style weapon.”
Suspect’s family is cooperating, sheriff says
The family of the suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting has been cooperating with investigators, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
“I will say that his family is pretty much cooperating with anything we’ve asked with. Because they realize the seriousness of this,” he said in an interview with NBC News.
The 14-year-old suspect had enrolled in Barrow County School District around two weeks ago, and Wednesday was his second day of school. A motive in the shooting remains unclear.
School system says it is focused on the injured and the grieving
The Barrow County School System said it is focusing on "those injured, hurting, and grieving" following the death of two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School.
"We cannot thank the community and the entire State of Georgia enough for the outpouring of support we have received," the district said in a statement today.
It went on to say that Barrow County School System is there to support all its students, families and staff.
Students at Georgia high school describe ‘haunting moment’ after suspect opened fire
WINDER, Ga. — Sophomore Cameron Leroy was in class Wednesday when an unfamiliar noise pulsated from the hallway just after 10 a.m.
When it didn’t stop, his teacher at Apalachee High School took action: He ordered students to crouch down in the corners of the classroom. He turned off the lights, locked the door and propped up a large touchscreen board to block the entrance.
For 30 terrifying minutes, the students hid motionless, and Leroy prayed for safety as the barrage of gunfire was eventually replaced by emergency sirens and the shouts of police officers.
“It was this very haunting moment for everyone,” Leroy, 15, said on NBC News Now.
Once home, he said, he was “still in a state of shock.” But the chaotic events sunk in when he learned one of those killed was Richard Aspinwall, his geometry teacher and an assistant football coach.
Apalachee football game canceled, opposing school to host vigil instead
The football game between Apalachee High School and Monroe Area High School that was scheduled for tomorrow night has been canceled.
Monroe posted a statement about the cancellation on Facebook and announced it would host a community vigil prayer at its stadium instead.
"Monroe Area High Schools stands with Apalachee High School and our thoughts are with them at this time," the school said.
Teacher 'felt like death was in the room' as he prepared to defend his students
Stephen Kreyenbuhl, an Apalachee social studies teacher, said his classroom was just near yesterday's shooting.
Teachers at the school are all equipped with a panic button on the back of their ID badges, a measure that was triggered for the first time after a gunman opened fire at the high school.
Kreyenbuhl said he followed protocol and then prepared to either defend himself and his students with a pair of scissors in his back pocket or worse.
“I definitely felt like death was in the room for a second,” he said. “I did accept the fact that I might die.”
New panic alarm system at Georgia H.S. saved lives during shooting, officials say. Advocates want it nationwide.
A new panic alarm system that was triggered during the deadly shooting likely saved countless lives, authorities and advocates for the technology said.
Lockdown warnings flashed on classroom screens at Apalachee High School as gunshots rang out, prompting students and teachers to lock the door, turn off the lights and huddle in the farthest corner from the entrance, witnesses said.
At the same time, alerts automatically went out to law enforcement officers, who responded and ended the shooting rampage within minutes, according to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith and Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey.
“The protocols at this school and this system activated today prevented this from being a much larger tragedy,” Hosey said at a news conference Wednesday night.
Gov. Kemp orders all state flags lowered to half-staff
Flags will be lowered to half-staff in honor of the shooting victims, per an executive order signed today by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
As a mark of respect, the flags will remain lowered from today until sunset on the date "of the final victim's interment," according to the order. Kemp posted a copy of the order's language on his X account.
"The people of Georgia share the grief of the parents, families and friends of those who were injured or killed, and we pray for their comfort and healing in the days to come," it said.
Suspect had shown interest in past shootings, including Parkland
The 14-year-old suspect had shown interest in previous mass shootings, particularly the 2018 attack in Parkland, Florida, said two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation.
The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killed 17 people and injured 17 others.
The information came to light from searches conducted in the investigation.
Autopsies to be performed today
The autopsies of the four victims in the Apalachee High School shooting will be performed today, officials said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said their work is continuing and asked for the public's patience in receiving more information.
Colt Gray charged with 4 counts of felony murder
Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting, has been charged with four counts of felony murder, the Georgia Bureau of investigation said Thursday afternoon.
His first appearance will be tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m.
What could have been done to prevent suspect from opening fire under Georgia law?
Given Georgia’s mix of gun laws, it is difficult to say if anything could have been done to stop the 14-year-old suspect from opening fire at Apalachee High School yesterday.
The Gun: Officials have said the shooter used an AR-style weapon. Georgia law does not have a minimum age for possessing or carrying a rifle. However, the age to purchase a rifle is 18, under the Gun Control Act. It would, however, have been illegal if he used a handgun as one must be 18 to use one.
The FBI tip: An FBI tip into the suspect last year was passed on to and investigated by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia. In that probe, investigators spoke with the suspect and his father. However, according to the incident report, it appeared the sheriff’s office found no crime warranting arrest had been committed or didn’t find the suspect, then 13, to be a threat. He could have been tracked long term by the sheriff’s office, but that would depend on available resources and if the suspect kept posting threats.
ERPO laws: Georgia lacks an Extreme Risk Protective Order statute, commonly known as a red flag law, under which law enforcement can request a court to order that guns be removed from a person or home. Authorities have said that the suspect’s father had hunting guns in the home when the FBI tip was investigated last year. Currently, 21 states have ERPO laws.
Georgia’s child services agency: The state's Department of Family and Children services had contact with the suspect and his family, the GBI said yesterday. This raises questions about what the department knew about the suspect, any additional threats or mental health evaluations and if more intervention could have been done. However, without an ERPO law, it's likely little could’ve been done to remove guns from the home.
Was this preventable? 'It's hard to say,' Sheriff says
When asked if the shooting was preventable, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said it's hard to say.
The 14-year-old suspect had been investigated following an FBI tip regarding a potential threat to shoot up a middle school last year.
“I feel confident that the FBI, the system worked,” Smith said Thursday.
“They notified local authorities, local authorities went to the house, interviewed him, interviewed his father, they did a report, they did what they were supposed to do, and found that there was no probable cause,” he continued. “Regardless of the situation, all of us have civil rights. He didn’t commit a crime. ... It was unfounded at the time, and so can anything be preventable? I don’t know. It’s hard to say.”
'It was carnage': Sheriff describes school shooting scene
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said upon arriving at Apalachee High School yesterday, what he found “was carnage.”
“There was blood everywhere. You smell the gunpowder. A lot of screaming, yelling, little bit of chaos.”
There were two school resource officers stationed at the school, as well as a sergeant who happened to be there, who immediately responded to the suspect. Smith said he “could not be prouder” of those officers, EMS, the fire department, as well as the “hero” teachers who lost their lives protecting students.
Speaking on first responders, he said: “They backed up the building, loaded kids up, tourniqueting folks, and those nine people that were injured are living today, and they expect to live,” he said. Most of the injured have been released from the hospital and two or three require more recovery time.
“Our heart breaks and goes out to the families of the four victims that were killed and murdered. That’s what this is — a murder. But we’re glad that we were able to prevent more,” he said
He noted that the sheriff's office had done an active school shooter drill last school year at a local middle school.
“Emotionally, it’s hard because I feel like this, that Colt Gray moved here, he took advantage of the system and thought that he could get away with it and didn’t," Smith said of the 14-year-old shooting suspect, who was new to the school.
Calling the teen "an evil person," the sheriff added: "But like I said, love is going to prevail over what happened, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that happens."
Suspect launched shooting on his second day at Apalachee High School
The suspected shooter was a brand new student, and yesterday was his first "real day" of class, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
“He was a brand new student to Barrow County Schools, he had enrolled about two weeks prior. This was his second day at school. He had been before, he left early, on that day and this was his first real full day,” Smith said referring to the shooting yesterday. Aug. 1 was the first day of school for the district.
Prior, the suspect had been at a local middle school, Smith said. According to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office incident report from 2023, Colt Gray had previously attended Jefferson Middle School and prior to that West Jackson Middle School.
Suspect was in custody within 6 minutes of first security alert
The 14-year-old suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting yesterday was in custody just six minutes after the school's safety alert system went off.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told NBC's Priya Sridhar that the county had invested in a notification system called Centegix last year and implemented it just a week and a half ago. With the system, teachers have a button on their badge they can press in an emergency that sends their GPS coordinates to law enforcement.
“We got multiple notifications as the shooting was going on from the teachers where to respond in that general area,” Smith said.
The school’s school resource officers had also radioed for help and took action.
“They come around the hallway — they were armed, obviously he was — they interacted with him, they gave him verbal commands, he dropped the gun and went on the ground and they took him into custody immediately. They’re telling me within six minutes of the first Centegix hit that he was in custody by that time,” Smith said.
Suspect will have first court appearance tomorrow
Colt Gray will have his first court appearance tomorrow at 8:30 a.m., according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. He will appear virtually from the Gainesville Youth Detention Center, where he is being held.
Suspect spoke with investigator about potential shooting threat on Discord account last year
Last May, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from the FBI regarding a possible threat to shoot up a middle school that came from a Discord chat group, and interviewed Colt Gray and his father, Colin.
On May 21, an investigator looking into the tip went to the Grays' home in Jefferson, Georgia. Colin told the investigator that he didn’t have a Discord account, and his son, who was 13 at the time, said he had deleted his.
“Colt expressed concern that someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” the incident report obtained by NBC News said.
The father told the investigator he had hunting rifles in the home, and Colt was “allowed to use them when supervised, but does not have unfettered access to them,” the report said.
Three tips had come to the FBI from different IP addresses — two from different California cities and one from western Australia. The tip said that the Discord account was associated with the email “blarvinker@gmail.com” which was owned by Colt Gray, according to the FBI’s information. IP addresses from the account showed it was used in two different Georgia cities and possibly from Buffalo, New York.
Included in the tip were several photo attachments that showed a user profile name written in Russian — which when translated spelled the name Lanza, referring to the Sandy Hook elementary school shooter.
When confronted about it, Colin Gray said he didn’t know the email associated with the account and said his son doesn’t know Russian. The investigator reported that Colin said his son had “some problems at West Jackson Middle School and now that he is going to Jefferson Middle School it has gotten better.”
Ultimately due to the “inconsistent nature” of the FBI information, it couldn’t be substantiated whether Colt or Colin were behind the Discord account.
Shooter used AR-style weapon
The 14-year-old suspect used an “AR platform-style weapon” during the shooting, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations said.
The exact model of gun was not specified. Bureau Director Chris Hosey said that the investigation is still fluid and active.
Last year, when the suspect was investigated in connection with online threats, his father told investigators in an interview that he had hunting guns in the home but that his son did not have unsupervised access to them, the FBI’s Atlanta field office said in a joint statement with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
Vigil held for Apalachee victims
Students, faculty and community members gather for a vigil after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., yesterday.
Shooting suspect booked at Gainesville Youth Detention Center
The Apalachee High School shooting suspect, Colt Gray, is currently being held at the Gainesville Youth Detention Center, the Georgia Department of Corrections said.
He would have been given a physical and mental evaluation when he arrived, spokesman Glenn Allen told NBC News this morning.
The suspect had never been placed at any Georgia Department of Correction facility before, Allen said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said that he would be charged with murder as an adult.
Georgia community holds vigil following high school shooting that killed four
Reporting from Winder, GA
Following the shooting at a Georgia high school that killed four people and injured at least nine, the Winder community came together for a vigil. NBC News' Jesse Kirsch spoke with a 15-year-old student who recalled the moment she heard gun shots.