A 14-year-old boy killed four people at his high school on Wednesday. He was not unknown to the authorities.
This Wednesday evening, a new shooting broke out in the Apalachee high school in the city of Winder, in the state of Georgia in the United States. The shooter was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and four people lost their lives, two students and two mathematics teachers. Nine other victims had to be hospitalized but should survive. The suspect was quickly arrested by the police and incarcerated.
The student is a 14-year-old who attended the school. He was identified by authorities as Colt Gray. He will be prosecuted “for murder and tried as an adult,” said the director of the Georgia State Bureau of Investigation.
The teenager is not unknown to authorities. According to initial investigations, he had already been questioned last year for “multiple anonymous tips regarding online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time,” the Atlanta FBI and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office reported. CNN. The young man had denied making such threats. When questioned with his father, the latter had assured that he had hunting weapons to which his son did not have access. The local authorities had however been warned to keep a close eye on the teenager. At the time there was no valid reason to make an arrest.
A “discreet” boy
The high school that was attacked had also received an anonymous telephone threat in the morning, warning of shootings in five schools and that their establishment would be the first. Colt Gray was nevertheless described by his classmates as someone “discreet” and “shy”. No specific target has been identified for the moment.
According to a student at CNNthe alleged shooter left the classroom at the start of class. When he returned, he knocked on the door to get in. A student went to answer it, but noticed the gun and held the door shut. The shooter then opened fire in the neighboring classroom. The students were quarantined and then evacuated.
School shootings are a recurring phenomenon in the country. Since the beginning of the year, there have already been 23 that have caused casualties. The Apalachee High School shooting is the deadliest of 2024. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris called the tragedy a “senseless tragedy,” lamenting that “every day (…) parents have to send their children to school worrying about whether or not their child will come home alive.” For his part, her opponent, Donald Trump, declared on Truth Social: “Our hearts go out to the victims and the loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, Georgia. These beloved children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”