Teen gunman Colt Gray was armed with an “AR platform-style weapon” when he started shooting inside Apalachee High School, fatally striking four people and wounding at least nine others, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53 were killed during the deadly rampage Wednesday morning, as were Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, who were both 14-year-old students at Apalachee, officials confirmed. It’s unclear whether the victims were targeted and authorities are still trying to determine what, if any, relationship they had with the gunman.
Investigators said they are also working to understand how 14-year-old Gray obtained the weapon he used to carry out the deadly attack.
“We’re still investigating that aspect of it,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey told reporters.
“We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline from the time that he got here to school today until the incident took place,” he added.
Student Lyela Sayarath told CNN the suspected shooter excused himself at the start of Algebra 1, around 9:45 a.m. When he returned toward the end of the class, he knocked on the door to be let back in, but another student noticed he was armed and did not open the door. Gray then went to another classroom and started to shoot, Sayarath recalled.
State troopers were called to the active scene — located in the suburb of Winder, roughly 50 miles northeast of Atlanta — around 10:20 a.m. They were alerted to the violence when teachers pressed a security button on the identification cards they’re required to carry. Barrow County sheriff Jud Smith said the new technology lets authorities know “there is an active situation at the school for whatever reason, and that was pressed” amid the chaos on Wednesday.
The ID cards have been in use for about a week, the sheriff added.
Within minutes of receiving the emergency alert, officers encountered the 14-year-old gunman, who immediately surrendered and was taken into custody.
Gray, who was previously questioned about a separate shooting threat in 2023, was charged with a count of murder for each person killed. Officials said he will be tried as an adult.
Nine additional people, eight students and one teacher identified by his daughter as David Phenix, were wounded in the shooting and taken to various hospitals.
“Those that are deceased are heroes in my book,” Hosey said. “Those that are in the hospital recovering right now are heroes in my book.”
The school community was still left reeling in wake of the massacre and have since come together to mourn those killed in the classroom carnage. They remembered Irimie, a math teacher at Apalachee High School, as a patient educator with a genuine love for her students, Fox 5 reported.
Aspinwall, also a math teacher, additionally served as the school football team’s defensive coordinator, USA Today reported.
Head coach Mike Hancock called his colleague a “great dad, man, and a great father.”
“He loved his two girls and he loved his wife,” Hancock added. “He did happen to love the game of football and he was well respected around this area.”
Schermerhorn was described by friends of his family as a happy teenager who liked cracking jokes, spending time with loved ones and playing video games. He also loved Walt Disney World.
“He really enjoyed life,” Doug Kilburn, a long-time friend of Schermerhorn’s mother, told the New York Times. “He always had an upbeat attitude about everything.”
Students had similarly warm memories about Angulo, who they said was funny but with a “chill” attitude.
“He was only 14 years old,” his sister, Lisette Angulo, wrote on a GoFundMe page, where she also described him as “a very good kid” who was “very sweet and so caring,”
She concluded: “He was so loved by many. His loss was so sudden and unexpected. We are truly heartbroken. He really didn’t deserve this.”