Four dead, nine injured after shooting at Georgia high school

ATLANTA – Four people were killed and nine others were taken to hospitals after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday afternoon.

A 14-year-old student at the school was in custody was charged with murder, the state agency confirmed. He was expected to be tried as an adult.

Two teachers and two students were killed in the shooting, according to GBI Director Chris Hosey. The alleged shooter was identified as Colt Gray, 14, an Apalachee High School student.

Gray had been previously investigated for threats about a shooting, the FBI Atlanta office said late Wednesday. He was not charged after an investigation last year.

Hosey said both students killed were 14 years old. They were identified as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. One of the teachers killed was identified as assistant football coach Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall. The other was Christina Irimie, a math teacher, according to the school’s website.

Barrow Sheriff Jud Smith called the shooting “pure evil” during a news conference near the school shortly after 1 p.m. Later Wednesday, Smith said the shooting suspect was being booked and would be taken to a regional youth detention center.

“My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community,” Smith said. “But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. I want that to be very clearly known. Love will prevail over what happened today. I assure you of that.”

Gov. Brian Kemp spoke outside Apalachee High School late in the day. “This is everybody’s worst nightmare,” he said.

Several law enforcement agencies responded around 10:20 a.m. to the school, which was placed on lockdown following reports of an active shooting, the Barrow sheriff’s office said.

A student resource officer stopped the alleged shooter, who cooperated with investigators, officials said.

Scant detail is known about Gray and his motivation to allegedly open fire at the school, near Winder, which sits about 23 miles west of Athens on the eastern edge of the Atlanta metro area. At the afternoon news conference, authorities did not disclose what Gray and his family told police during their interviews.

Of the nine people injured, one patient remained at Grady Memorial Hospital, officials said. Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow was treating two gunshot victims for injuries not believed to be life-threatening and four others with symptoms related to panic attacks, the hospital systems confirmed. Another gunshot victim was taken to NGMC Gainesville. A patient was also treated at NGMC Braselton with symptoms related to anxiety or a panic attack.

Smith said investigators hadn’t determined if the victims were targeted and didn’t know how the shooter obtained a gun.

Smith, a Barrow native, said there was no indication the victims were targeted, although the investigation is still ongoing. Kemp has offered all available resources to help with the investigation, Smith said.

“I don’t know why it happened,” Smith said. “I may not ever know. We may not ever know. But I ask that you and our community lift up our schools, lift up our public safety and that again we do not let this hateful event prevail.”

Accounts from students inside the school added a view of the chaos. At 10:23 a.m., 11th-grader Henry van der Walt texted his mother: “I think there’s a school shooting.”

Minutes later, Becky van der Walt got another message.

“I love you,” Henry wrote.

The text exchange was likely repeated hundreds of times during several frenetic hours for both students and parents. Students were led from the school outside, where parents rushed to find them.

Footage from WSB-TV’s NewsChopper 2 showed large crowds of students filtering into the high school’s stadium during the lockdown. Several ambulances were at the scene as well. By late morning, students were released to their families and school officials said buses would be running for those needing transportation home.

Frantic parents rushed to the school, with many forced to park and walk to reach the campus while searching for their children.

Apalachee sophomore Alexsandra Romero said she was in her second-period class when another student barged in yelling for everyone to get down.

“I wasn’t texting my family at first, because I thought it was just a drill,” Romero told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Since the school had prepared for this scenario, Romero said she and her classmates knew what to do.

“I can just remember my hands were shaking,” Romero said. “I felt bad because everybody was crying, everybody was trying to find their siblings.”

Romero said she caught glimpses of blood and guns lying on the ground as she was escorted from the building.

“I can still picture everything, like the blood, the shouting and everything,” Romero said.

Apalachee High was the only school cleared for dismissal as of midday Wednesday. Other Barrow County schools remained in a soft lockdown “for the safety of everyone right now,” the school district said.

White House officials said President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and his administration planned to coordinate with federal, state and local authorities.

“(I) urge all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state,” Kemp added. “We will continue to work with local, state and federal partners as we gather information and further respond to this situation.”

FBI Atlanta said it was aware of the shooting and that agents were on scene to coordinate and assist local authorities. GBI agents were also providing help, and the state agency urged everyone to stay clear of the area.

Apalachee High had an enrollment of just more than 1,900 students as of March, according to the Georgia Department of Education. The department said it was also monitoring the situation.

“I am devastated by the news of the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School today,” Richard Woods, state school superintendent, said in a statement. “My heart and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those affected and the entire Barrow County community.

“This is an unimaginable loss for Barrow and for our entire educational community across the state.”

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens also issued a statement after the shooting.

“My prayers are with the high school students, staff and families affected by the senseless act of violence in Winder, Georgia,” he said. “I have been in contact with Chief (Darin) Schierbaum, and the Atlanta Police Department has been working with the Atlanta Public Schools Police Department to bolster patrols around our schools for the rest of the day out of an abundance of caution.

“APD has also been on standby in case law enforcement agencies need assistance with this incident. May God comfort the victims and their loved ones in the difficult days ahead.”

Smith said during the media conference, “First and foremost, I want to lift up our community. I want to give our sympathies to our community, our school system, our kids, our parents that had to witness this today.”

“This is going to take multiple days to get answers,” Smith said during the news conference.

All Barrow County schools will be closed Thursday and Friday.

A community candlelight vigil was to be held at Jug Tavern Park Wedneday evening.

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(Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff writers Thad Moore, Lexi Baker and Henri Hollis contributed to this article.)