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

EXPLAINER

A 14-year-old boy allegedly opened fireplace at Apalachee Excessive Faculty within the US state of Georgia, killing two college students and two lecturers.

A 14-year-old boy allegedly opened fireplace at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, killing two college students and two lecturers whereas injuring 9 different individuals. This incident marks the primary mass capturing at a faculty in the US because the starting of the tutorial yr — however the twenty third such incident in 2024.

Right here is all to know concerning the victims, suspect and capturing.

What occurred in Georgia and when?

• A capturing befell in Apalachee Excessive Faculty.
• Lyela Sayarath, 16, a pupil on the faculty, advised CNN that she was sitting subsequent to the suspected attacker earlier than the capturing befell.
• The suspected shooter left an algebra class at about 9:45am (13:45 GMT). Later, as the category was nearing its finish, he returned. A woman tried to open the door however noticed the gun and didn’t open it. She reported that the shooter then went to the classroom subsequent door and started capturing.
• Officers first received reports of a capturing on the faculty at about 10:20am native time (14:20 GMT).
• After the capturing befell, all colleges within the district had been positioned in lockdown, and police had been despatched out to all district excessive colleges.
• A report by CNN mentioned that earlier within the morning, Apalachee Excessive Faculty obtained a telephone risk warning of shootings at 5 colleges, with Apalachee being recognized as the primary goal.

3. There was a name to a different native highschool this morning with a reported risk. Police responded, investigated, and decided there was no risk.

(3/3)

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

The place did the capturing happen?

• Apalachee Excessive Faculty is positioned within the metropolis of Winder, Georgia. It’s an hour outdoors of Atlanta, the state’s largest metropolis and capital.
• The college has practically 1,900 college students enrolled and is one in all three excessive colleges within the Barrow County Faculty System.
• Within the state of Georgia, people should be 18 or older to buy handguns. Minors additionally can not possess handguns. In 2019, Georgia ranked fifteenth in firearm-related deaths within the US and the tenth for the southern area, in line with the Georgia Division of Public Well being.
• Georgia ranks 46 out of 50 states within the US by way of the power of its gun legal guidelines, in line with Everytown for Gun Security, a nonprofit that advocates for gun management. The group describes Georgia’s insurance policies as “a number of the weakest” within the US.

Who’s Colt Grey, the suspected shooter?

• The suspected shooter was recognized by authorities as Colt Grey. He’s a 14-year-old pupil, and he can be charged and tried as an grownup, authorities mentioned.
• Grey was armed with an “AR platform fashion weapon” or semiautomatic rifle. An AR-platform rifle, the AR-15 has been concerned in a number of the most threatening mass shootings in US historical past.
• Grey was interviewed by native enforcement in Might 2023 after the FBI received “a number of nameless recommendations on on-line threats to commit a faculty capturing at an unidentified location and time”.
• In line with the FBI, throughout that point his father mentioned he did have searching weapons in the home, however he didn’t enable unsupervised entry to them. In addition they mentioned that at the moment, there was no possible trigger for arrest.
• Scholar Lyela Sayarath described Grey as “fairly quiet.” She mentioned: “he by no means actually talked. I couldn’t let you know what his voice appeared like, or actually even describe his face to you. He was simply there.”

Who do we all know concerning the victims?

Officers mentioned 4 individuals had been killed and 9 others hospitalised. The 4 victims had been recognized as:

• Christian Angulo, a 14-year-old pupil
• Mason Schermerhorn, a 14-year-old pupil
• Christina Irimie, a 53-year-old maths trainer
• Richard Aspinwall, a 39-year-old math trainer and assistant soccer coach

All 9 of these hospitalised — eight college students and one trainer — had been wounded and anticipated to get well.

RIP to the 4 victims who tragically misplaced their lives as we speak within the Apalachee Excessive Faculty capturing. As pictured:

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

— Every thing Georgia (@GAFollowers) September 5, 2024

How did presidential candidates react to the highschool capturing?

• The US is 2 months away from election evening. Georgia is a key battleground state that each principal candidates — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump — are determined to win.
• Talking from the marketing campaign path in New Hampshire, Harris described the killings in Georgia as a “mindless tragedy on prime of so many mindless tragedies”.
• “And it’s simply outrageous that on daily basis, in our nation, the US of America, that oldsters should ship their kids to high school nervous about whether or not or not their baby will come house alive,” Harris mentioned.

In the present day, Doug and I are mourning the deaths of these whose lives had been lower brief by gun violence at Apalachee Excessive Faculty in Georgia.

Our hearts are with the scholars, lecturers, and households impacted by this capturing, and we’re grateful to the primary responders and legislation enforcement…

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

• In a message posted on social media, Trump mentioned: “These cherished kids had been taken from us far too quickly by a sick and deranged monster.”
• Trump himself was the sufferer of gun violence final month when a gunman hit his ear in a failed assassination try at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, his marketing campaign has pledged to guard the rights of gun homeowners and repeal restrictions put in place underneath incumbent President Joe Biden.

• Trump’s vice presidential decide JD Vance described the capturing as “despicable violence” in a social media put up.

Our hearts exit to everybody affected by this despicable violence simply days into the brand new faculty yr.

We’re preserving the victims, their households, and the entire neighborhood of Winder, Georgia in our prayers this night.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 4, 2024

• Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz commented on the college capturing whereas campaigning in Pennsylvania. “That is tragic .. and our hearts are on the market proper now, however our work wants to forestall these sooner or later, as we all know,” Walz added.

Our hearts are with the households and neighborhood of Winder, Georgia as our nation reels from yet one more tragic faculty capturing.

Our actions have to be there too. We should do every thing in our energy to maintain college students and educators protected.

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) September 4, 2024

What’s the scenario with mass shootings within the US?

• The Gun Violence Archive reported that there had been 384 mass shootings within the US this yr earlier than the capturing in Georgia. The group considers a mass capturing to be one wherein 4 or extra victims are killed or shot, not together with the shooter.
• In complete, in line with EdWeek, a information organisation that covers Okay–12 training, there have been 23 faculty shootings within the US this yr.