Colt Gray, a 14-year-old suspect involved in the fatal mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia (USA), is set to be formally charged, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Director Chris Hosey.

The suspect, will face murder charges for the deaths of two teachers and two students.

The victims have been identified as 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, 39-year-old Richard Aspinwall, and 53-year-old Christina Irimie.

Aspinwall and Irimie were both math teachers at the school, and Aspinwall also served as an assistant football coach, as confirmed by the school’s website.

As announced in an earlier press briefing, Gray, a student at Apalachee High School, will be tried as an adult and move through the court system accordingly.

In addition to the four fatalities, nine other individuals—eight students and one teacher—were injured and transported to local hospitals for treatment following the shooting, the GBI reported.

According to Hosey, the weapon used in the attack was an AR-platform firearm, which a law enforcement official clarified was an AR-15-style weapon.

The shooting caused chaos at the school, sending students and staff into lockdown as they sought safety.

Schools throughout the county were also placed on lockdown, and anxious parents scrambled for information on safety of their children.

Witness Statements

Witness Macey Right, a 14-year-old student at the school, described the terrifying moments during the shooting.

She texted her mother, asking her to come pick her up after hearing gunshots. Right and her classmates held hands and prayed, but the situation intensified when they heard loud bangs and shouts outside their classroom.

“I heard gunshots outside my classroom and people screaming, people begging not to get shot, and then people sitting beside me just shaking and crying,” Macey recalled.

Authorities had previously spoken with Colt Gray and his father in May 2023 after receiving anonymous tips about online threats of a potential school shooting, according to a joint statement from the FBI’s Atlanta office and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.

Wednesday’s incident marks the deadliest school shooting incident in the US this year.

The first report of an active shooter at Apalachee High School came in at 10:20 a.m. ET.

A school resource deputy responded quickly, confronting Gray, who surrendered without further incident, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.

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