(NEXSTAR) – Two students and two teachers were killed after authorities said a 14-year-old suspect opened fire at a high school in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday morning.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) identified the students killed in the shooting at Apalachee High School as Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14. The two teachers were identified as Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie.
Nine other people -- eight students and one teacher -- were injured and taken to local hospitals, the GBI said. They are all expected to recover. Police did not release their ages or any further details about the survivors.
The suspected shooter, Colt Gray, is in custody and will be charged with murder and "handled as an adult," GBI Director Chris Hosey said in an afternoon press conference.
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Sheriff Jud Smith said law enforcement received a call about an active shooter around 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, prompting the dispatch of multiple agencies, including firefighters and EMS personnel. Officers arrived within minutes, Hosey said.
The suspect surrendered after he was confronted by a school resource officer, Smith said.
"The shooter quickly realized that if he did not give up that it would end with an OIS, or an officer-involved shooting," Smith said, adding that the suspect gave up and got on the ground.
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)Law enforcement arrive as 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. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)Law enforcement arrive as 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)Law enforcement arrive as 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. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)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)
An "AR-platform style weapon" was used in the shooting, Hosey said during another press conference later in the evening. It's still unclear how the suspect got the gun into the school, and a potential motive has not yet been named.
“We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline from the time that he got here to school today until the incident,” Hosey said.
Back in May of 2023, the teen was interviewed by local law enforcement after the FBI received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit an unspecified school shooting, the agency said in a statement.
The FBI narrowed the threats down and referred to the case to the sheriff’s department in Jackson County, which is adjacent to Barrow County. The sheriff’s office interviewed the then-13-year-old and his father, who said there were hunting guns in the house, but the teen did not have unsupervised access to them. The teen also denied making any online threats.
The sheriff’s office alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the teen, but there was no probable cause for arrest to additional action, the FBI said.
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School will be closed for the rest of the week as police continue to investigate Wednesday's shooting, Superintendent Dallas LeDuff said.
"This hits home for me. I was born and raised here. I went to school in this school system. My kids go to this school system. I'm proud of this school system," Smith said. "My heart hurts for these kids, my heart hurts for our community, but I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county."
Gov. Brian Kemp said the shooting "hit home" for him as well.
"This is everybody’s worst nightmare, and 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 and continuing to fight through just a tragic time,” Kemp said during the nighttime press conference.
Earlier in the day, the governor posted a message on X, saying he has "directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School." He also said local, state and federal authorities were working to gather more information.
The White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed by his Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall, about the shooting and the administration will coordinate with federal, state and local officials as it receives more information.
The shooting had reverberations in Atlanta, where patrols of schools in that city were beefed up, authorities said. More patrols of Atlanta schools would be done “for the rest of the day out of an abundance of caution,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said.
Apalachee High School, located northeast of Atlanta, has an enrollment of around 1,900 students. The school year started a little over a month ago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
