A 14-year-old boy, accused of killing four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, was previously interviewed by police last year regarding anonymous online threats, according to the FBI. In May 2023, Colt Gray denied being responsible for internet posts that featured images of guns and threats of a school shooting.
On Wednesday, Gray allegedly opened fire at the school, killing two teachers—Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall—and two students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Eight students and one teacher were injured. Gray was apprehended on campus and will be prosecuted as an adult.
FBI records show that its National Threat Operations Center had alerted local law enforcement in May 2023 about anonymous threats related to a potential school shooting. Investigators quickly traced the threats to Georgia, and the suspect, then 13, was interviewed along with his father, who claimed the boy did not have unsupervised access to firearms. The boy denied making the threats, and no further action was taken at that time.
Sheriff Jud Smith condemned the attack as “pure evil” and noted that officers arrived within minutes of the 911 call at 10:20 AM local time. The suspect surrendered immediately when confronted by police.
Students described scenes of chaos as alerts went out about the shooter. One student recounted how the suspect was initially prevented from entering a locked classroom due to a gun but proceeded to the next room and began shooting. The incident has been identified as the 23rd school shooting in the U.S. in 2024, with 11 fatalities and 38 injuries reported in such attacks this year. This shooting marks the first planned school attack of the autumn term, according to David Riedman of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
