A 14-year-old boy will be charged with murder after four people were killed and nine injured in a shooting at a Georgia high school.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says two students and two teachers were killed in Wednesday’s attack at Apalachee High School in Winder, Barrow County.
Colt Gray, a student at the school, was arrested by two police officers at the school, an official said. He will be tried as an adult.
The FBI interviewed him in May 2023 after receiving an anonymous tip about online threats to carry out a school shooting, but did not arrest him at that time.
Police first received reports of a shooting at the school of about 1,900 students at around 10:20 local time (14:20 GMT).
Local police chief Jud Smith described the attack as “pure evil”.
“Within minutes, law enforcement was on scene, as well as two school police officers assigned to the school who immediately encountered the subject,” the police chief said at a news conference.
“The subject surrendered immediately. He gave up, lay down on the ground. And officers arrested him.”
Officials said a motive has not been determined and law enforcement is not aware of “any targets at this time.”
According to the FBI, investigators visited the suspect in May 2023 and interviewed him and his father about threats posted online, including images of guns.
“The father stated that he had hunting rifles in the home, but the subject was not allowed access to them without supervision,” the FBI said in a statement.
The suspect, who was 13 at the time, denied making the online threats and officials have “warned local schools to continue monitoring this subject”.
“At that time, there was no probable cause to make an arrest or take any additional law enforcement action at the local, state or federal level.”
One of those killed Wednesday was Mason Schermerhorn, 14, who was autistic, according to local sources. WSB TV.
Family members posted photos of Mason on social media after they were unable to find him and later confirmed he did not survive the shooting.
According to a social media post by his family, teacher and coach David Phenix was injured after being shot in the leg and hip, causing a broken hip bone.
He underwent surgery but is in stable condition, a person claiming to be his daughter said on Facebook.
Law enforcement did not say what type of weapon was used or how many rounds were fired.
Sheriff Smith said the suspect was interviewed and spoke with investigators after being taken into custody.
“It will take us many days to get answers about what happened and why this happened,” he told reporters.
Dozens of police officers quickly responded to the shooting at the school, which was locked down and dispersed, with students taken to a nearby football stadium before being released to their families.
Lyela Sayarath, who was in the same class as the attacker, told CNN the suspect left the classroom when algebra class was about to start.
She said he returned and knocked on the door, which automatically locked, but another student refused to let him in after noticing he had a gun.
The attacker then went into the next classroom and started shooting, Ms. Sayarath told CNN.
Alexsandra Romero, a sophomore, said she was sitting in class when someone barged in and yelled at other students, telling them to get down.
“I just remember my hands shaking,” she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I felt bad because everyone was crying, everyone was trying to find their brothers and sisters.
“I can still picture everything, like the blood, the screaming.”
Marques Coleman, 14, said he saw the attacker holding a “big gun” just before the shooting began.
“I got up, started running, he started firing about 10 shots. He fired at least 10 shots,” he told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
“My teacher started blocking the door with tables and chairs,” he said.
After standing up, the student said he saw “a classmate of mine lying on the ground, bleeding profusely,” another girl shot in the leg, and another friend shot in the stomach.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “praying for the safety of those in the classroom” and that he was directing “every available state resource” to assist.
Speaking at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Democratic White House candidate Vice President Kamala Harris called the shooting “a senseless tragedy.”
“It’s absurd that every day in our country… parents have to send their children to school worrying about whether they will return home alive.
“It doesn’t have to be like this.”
Republican White House candidate Donald Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social: “These beautiful children were taken from us too soon by a sick and insane monster.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland, the top law enforcement official in the United States, said federal agents are assisting in the investigation.
