Georgia high school shooting: Who are the victims and ‘shooter’ Colt Gray?

EXPLAINER

A 14-year-old boy allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School in the US state of Georgia, killing two students and two teachers.

A 14-year-old boy allegedly opened fire at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, killing two students and two teachers while injuring nine other people. This incident marks the first mass shooting at a school in the United States since the beginning of the academic year — but the 23rd such incident in 2024.

Here is all to know about the victims, suspect and shooting.

What happened in Georgia and when?

• A shooting took place in Apalachee High School.
• Lyela Sayarath, 16, a student at the school, told CNN that she was sitting next to the suspected attacker before the shooting took place.
• The suspected shooter left an algebra class at about 9:45am (13:45 GMT). Later, as the class was nearing its end, he returned. A girl attempted to open the door but saw the gun and didn’t open it. She reported that the shooter then went to the classroom next door and began shooting.
• Officers first received reports of a shooting at the school at about 10:20am local time (14:20 GMT).
• After the shooting took place, all schools in the district were placed in lockdown, and police were sent out to all district high schools.
• A report by CNN said that earlier in the morning, Apalachee High School received a phone threat warning of shootings at five schools, with Apalachee being identified as the first target.

3. There was a call to another local high school this morning with a reported threat. Police responded, investigated, and determined there was no threat.

(3/3)

— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) September 5, 2024

Where did the shooting take place?

• Apalachee High School is located in the city of Winder, Georgia. It is an hour outside of Atlanta, the state’s largest city and capital.
• The school has nearly 1,900 students enrolled and is one of three high schools in the Barrow County School System.
• In the state of Georgia, individuals must be 18 or older to purchase handguns. Minors also cannot possess handguns. In 2019, Georgia ranked 15th in firearm-related deaths in the US and the 10th for the southern region, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
• Georgia ranks 46 out of 50 states in the US in terms of the strength of its gun laws, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control. The group describes Georgia’s policies as “some of the weakest” in the US.

Who is Colt Gray, the suspected shooter?

• The suspected shooter was identified by authorities as Colt Gray. He is a 14-year-old student, and he will be charged and tried as an adult, authorities said.
• Gray was armed with an “AR platform style weapon” or semiautomatic rifle. An AR-platform rifle, the AR-15 has been involved in some of the most deadly mass shootings in US history.
• Gray was interviewed by local enforcement in May 2023 after the FBI received “several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time”.
• According to the FBI, during that time his father said he did have hunting guns in the house, but he did not allow unsupervised access to them. They also said that at that time, there was no probable cause for arrest.
• Student Lyela Sayarath described Gray as “pretty quiet.” She said: “he never really talked. I couldn’t tell you what his voice sounded like, or really even describe his face to you. He was just there.”

Who do we know about the victims?

Officials said four people were killed and nine others hospitalised. The four victims were identified as:

• Christian Angulo, a 14-year-old student
• Mason Schermerhorn, a 14-year-old student
• Christina Irimie, a 53-year-old maths teacher
• Richard Aspinwall, a 39-year-old math teacher and assistant football coach

All nine of those hospitalised — eight students and one teacher — were wounded and expected to recover.

RIP to the 4 victims who tragically lost their lives today in the Apalachee High School shooting. As pictured:

1. Richard Aspinwall (math teacher)
2. Mason Schermerhorn (14y/o student)
3. Christian Angulo (14y/o student)
4. Christina Irimie (math teacher) pic.twitter.com/Gfg7x4UWTL

— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) September 5, 2024

How did presidential candidates react to the high school shooting?

• The US is two months away from election night. Georgia is a key battleground state that both principal candidates — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump — are desperate to win.
• Speaking from the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Harris described the killings in Georgia as a “senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies”.
• “And it’s just outrageous that every day, in our country, the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” Harris said.

Today, Doug and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short by gun violence at Apalachee High School in Georgia.

Our hearts are with the students, teachers, and families impacted by this shooting, and we are grateful to the first responders and law enforcement…

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 4, 2024

• In a message posted on social media, Trump said: “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
• Trump himself was the victim of gun violence last month when a gunman hit his ear in a failed assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, his campaign has pledged to protect the rights of gun owners and repeal restrictions put in place under incumbent President Joe Biden.

• Trump’s vice presidential pick JD Vance described the shooting as “despicable violence” in a social media post.

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this despicable violence just days into the new school year.

We are keeping the victims, their families, and the whole community of Winder, Georgia in our prayers this evening.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 4, 2024

• Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz commented on the school shooting while campaigning in Pennsylvania. “This is tragic .. and our hearts are out there right now, but our work needs to prevent these in the future, as we know,” Walz added.

Our hearts are with the families and community of Winder, Georgia as our nation reels from yet another tragic school shooting.

Our actions need to be there too. We must do everything in our power to keep students and educators safe.

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) September 4, 2024

What’s the situation with mass shootings in the US?

• The Gun Violence Archive reported that there had been 384 mass shootings in the US this year before the shooting in Georgia. The group considers a mass shooting to be one in which four or more victims are killed or shot, not including the shooter.
• In total, according to EdWeek, a news organisation that covers K–12 education, there have been 23 school shootings in the US this year.