As law enforcement continues to investigate Wednesday’s mass shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation credited school resource officers for locating and engaging the 14-year-old student quickly before more deaths occurred.
The shooter was identified as Apalachee High School student Colt Gray, but authorities didn’t provide any early insight into his potential motivations except to say they were looking at “all aspects” of his connections at the school.
The shooting occurred in Winder, Ga., a small city 54 miles northeast of Atlanta. GBI said two students and two teachers perished during the attack, which began around 10:20 a.m. As has been the case in many school shootings of late, early law enforcement intervention appears to have stopped a potential bloodbath in the school with 1,900 students.
Delayed action has been blamed for fateful mass shootings at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
“(Gray) was armed, an SRO engaged him, and the shooter quickly realized if he didn’t give up this would end with an officer-involved shooting,” said Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith, noting that deputies and SROs were on scene within minutes after the incident was reported. “He got on the ground and a deputy took him into custody.”
“Law enforcement had a very swift response to the incident once it was determined as one of concern,” said Chris Hosey, Director of the GBI.
Upon hearing gunshots at the school Wednesday, students told scrambled into the corners of classrooms or look for places to hide, including under desks or in closets.
As of Wednesday afternoon, authorities said in a GBI briefing carried on YouTube they didn’t have any preliminary information that Gray had specific targets at this point or any type of connection with the victims, or how he obtained a gun and entered the school with one.
The high school reportedly received a phone threat earlier this morning warning that there would be shootings at five schools and that Apalachee would be the first, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN.
Smith added that Gray was interviewed by GBI and other investigators and that is “helping our investigation.” Authorities are continuing to interview students, faculty and witnesses and will be doing so into the night, along with crime scene agents.
Hosey said Gray will likely be charged and prosecuted as an adult once the investigation is completed. Barrow County schools will remain closed for the rest of this week.
“Hate will not prevail in this county,” Smith said. “The law will prevail over what happened today, I assure you that.”
Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off a campaign event in New Hampshire, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, by offering condolences to the shooting victims and described the shooting a “senseless tragedy,” then echoing President Joe Biden’s calls for gun control.
“It’s just outrageous that every day in our country, in 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. “It’s senseless.”
