(NBC NEWS) - Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said upon arriving at Apalachee High School yesterday, what he found “was carnage.”
“There was blood everywhere. You smell the smell the gunpowder. A lot of screaming, yelling, little bit of chaos.”
There were two school resource officers stationed at the school, as well as a sergeant who happened to be there, who immediately responded to the suspect. Smith said he “could not be prouder” of those officers, EMS, the fire department, as well as the “hero” teachers who lost their lives protecting students.
Speaking on first responders, he said: “They backed up the building, loaded kids up, tourniqueting folks, and those nine people that were injured are living today, and they expect to live,” he said. Most of the injured have been released from the hospital and two or three require more recovery time.
“Our heart breaks and goes out to the families of the four victims that were killed and murdered. That’s what this is — a murder. But we’re glad that we were able to prevent more,” he said
He noted that the sheriff's office had done an active school shooter drill last school year at a local middle school.
“Emotionally, it’s hard because I feel like this, that Colt Gray moved here, he took advantage of the system and thought that he could get away with it and didn’t. But he is an evil person that took out some people. But like I said, love is going to prevail over what happened, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that happens,” Smith said.
Suspect launched shooting on his second day at Apalachee High School
The suspected shooter was a brand new student, and yesterday was his first "real day" of class, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
“He was a brand new student to Barrow County Schools, he had enrolled about two weeks prior. This was his second day at school. He had been before, he left early, on that day and this was his first real full day,” Smith said referring to the shooting yesterday. Aug. 1 was the first day of school for the district.
Prior, the suspect had been at a local middle school, Smith said. According to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office incident report from 2023, Colt Gray had previously attended Jefferson Middle School and prior to that West Jackson Middle School.
Suspect was in custody within 6 minutes of first security alert
The 14-year-old suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting yesterday was in custody just six minutes after the school's safety alert system went off.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told NBC's Priya Sridhar that the county had invested in a notification system called Centegix last year and implemented it just a week and a half ago. With the system, teachers have a button on their badge they can press in an emergency that sends their GPS coordinates to law enforcement.
“We got multiple notifications as the shooting was going on from the teachers where to respond in that general area,” Smith said.
The school’s school resource officers had also radioed for help and took action.
“They come around the hallway — they were armed, obviously he was — they interacted with him, they gave him verbal commands, he dropped the gun and went on the ground and they took him into custody immediately. They’re telling me within six minutes of the first Centegix hit that he was in custody by that time,” Smith said.
Suspect will have first court appearance tomorrow
Colt Gray will have his first court appearance tomorrow at 8:30 a.m., according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. He will appear virtually from the Gainesville Youth Detention Center, where he is being held.
Suspect spoke with investigator about potential shooting threat on Discord account last year
Last May, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from the FBI regarding a possible threat to shoot up a middle school that came from a Discord chat group, and interviewed Colt Gray and his father, Colin.
On May 21, an investigator looking into the tip went to the Grays' home in Jefferson, Georgia. Colin told the investigator that he didn’t have a Discord account, and his son, who was 13 at the time, said he had deleted his.
“Colt expressed concern that someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” the incident report obtained by NBC News said.
The father told the investigator he had hunting rifles in the home, and Colt was “allowed to use them when supervised, but does not have unfettered access to them,” the report said.
Three tips had come to the FBI from different IP addresses — two from different California cities and one from western Australia. The tip said that the Discord account was associated with the email “blarvinker@gmail.com” which was owned by Colt Gray, according to the FBI’s information. IP addresses from the account showed it was used in two different Georgia cities and possibly from Buffalo, New York.
Included in the tip were several photo attachments that showed a user profile name written in Russian — which when translated spelled the name Lanza, referring to the Sandy Hook elementary school shooter.
When confronted about it, Colin Gray said he didn’t know the email associated with the account and said his son doesn’t know Russian. The investigator reported that Colin said his son had “some problems at West Jackson Middle School and now that he is going to Jefferson Middle School it has gotten better.”
Ultimately due to the “inconsistent nature” of the FBI information, it couldn’t be substantiated whether Colt or Colin were behind the Discord account.
Shooter used AR-style weapon
The 14-year-old suspect used an “AR platform-style weapon” during the shooting, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations said.
The exact model of gun was not specified. Bureau Director Chris Hosey said that the investigation is still fluid and active.
Last year, when the suspect was investigated in connection with online threats, his father told investigators in an interview that he had hunting guns in the home but that his son did not have unsupervised access to them, the FBI’s Atlanta field office said in a joint statement with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
Vigil held for Apalachee victims
Students, faculty and community members gather for a vigil after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., yesterday.
Shooting suspect booked at Gainesville Youth Detention Center
The Apalachee High School shooting suspect, Colt Gray, is currently being held at the Gainesville Youth Detention Center, the Georgia Department of Corrections said.
He would have been given a physical and mental evaluation when he arrived, spokesman Glenn Allen told NBC News this morning.
The suspect had never been placed at any Georgia Department of Correction facility before, Allen said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said that he would be charged with murder as an adult.
Georgia community holds vigil following high school shooting that killed four
Following the shooting at a Georgia high school that killed four people and injured at least nine, the Winder community came together for a vigil. NBC News' Jesse Kirsch spoke with a 15-year-old student who recalled the moment she heard gun shots.
