The 14-year-old murder suspect now in custody and facing charges in the slayings of four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia was on the FBI’s radar as a “possible threat” since last year, according to a report at Fox News.
The teen, identified as Colt Gray, will be tried as an adult. He is being held at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta. The station also reported the FBI investigated last year when the suspect allegedly made threats to commit a school shooting in 2023, but he was not arrested because “authorities could not establish probable cause…at the time.”
He was questioned at the time by Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies and denied making threats, according to the FBI statement. His father reportedly said there were hunting guns in the home but that Gray did not have unsupervised access.
CNN is reporting that the suspect was armed with an “AR-platform weapon” when he was confronted and surrendered.
The four victims have been identified as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39 and Christina Irimia, 53. Nine others were wounded and are in local hospitals.
Prior to the shooting, the high school reportedly received a telephone threat warning that five school shootings would occur and Apalachee was to be first on the list.
CNN reported that schools in Barrow County will remain closed for the rest of the week while the investigation continues.
The case does raise questions, not the least of which is about how the teenage suspect was able to get an AR-15-type firearm onto campus and into the school apparently without being noticed. There was apparently no follow-up regarding the 2023 threats. Were school authorities aware of that report and contact with the suspect, then 13, last year?
The suspect is a student at Apalachee, which is a four-year high school, according to various published reports. It is not clear when his first court appearance will be scheduled.
The Washington Post is reporting that authorities are still trying to determine a motive. The newspaper says school staff were able to alert police using a newly-installed emergency button on badges to report an active shooter situation. The system has been in use only for about a week.
The WaPo is also reporting that the suspect “would be the youngest school shooter to kill more than one person on a K-12 campus since at least 1999.” Over the past quarter-century, “at least 65 school shootings” have been carried out by suspects younger than 15, the newspaper added.
In 1998, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel opened fire at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon after murdering both of his parents at their home. He was armed with a rifle and pistol, which his father purchased for him. Kinkel killed two classmates and wounded 25 others before he was wrestled to the ground by several students.
