Tipsheet

Suspected Georgia School Shooter Was on the FBI's Radar

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  September 04, 2024 11:30 PM

The suspected Georgia school shooter has been on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s radar since last year.

FBI Atlanta announced Wednesday evening that they knew about the mass shooting suspect making terroristic threats as early as May 2023.

Officials earlier identified 14-year-old Colt Gray as the shooter who slaughtered four victims, including two students and two teachers, today at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, approximately 45 miles northeast of Atlanta.

Hours later, the FBI's Atlanta division disclosed that about a year and a half ago, the FBI's National Threat Operations Center had received several anonymous tips concerning online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time. The posts contained photographs of guns. Within 24 hours, the FBI discovered that the online posts originated in Georgia. Accordingly, the FBI's Atlanta field office referred the matter to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

The local sheriff's department located a male suspect, then the age of 13, and interviewed him as well as his father. His father acknowledged he had hunting guns in the house; however, the suspect did not have unsupervised access to them, he maintained. The suspect denied making the online threats, and Jackson County authorities alerted local schools for "continued monitoring of the subject."

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"At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels," FBI Atlanta said in the statement.

After contention ensued over the inexplicit wording, the FBI clarified: "To confirm, the subject referred to as the 13-year-old is the same subject in custody related to today's shootings at Apalachee High School."

Gray, a student at the school, immediately surrendered upon apprehension after a sheriff's deputy acting as a school resource officer swiftly responded to the active shooter situation and engaged him, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said at an afternoon news conference.

"The shooter quickly realized that if he did not give up, it would end with an OIS [officer-involved shooting]," Smith stated. "He got on the ground and the deputy took him into custody."

An "AR platform-style weapon" was used in the shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) later added, though the exact model of the firearm was not specified and GBI agents are still investigating how the gun got into the school.

Gray is charged with murder and will be tried as an adult. Once the investigation is complete, the case file will be sent to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit for prosecution, according to a GBI press release.

Mason Schermerhorn, a student (age 14); Christian Angulo, a student (age 14); Richard Aspenwall, a teacher (age 39); and Christina Irimie, a teacher (age 53) were among the four confirmed casualties. Both faculty members were math teachers there, and Aspenwall was an assistant coach, specifically a defensive coordinator, for the football team, according to the school's directory.

Everyone else injured is expected to survive, with many patients already discharged and one in stable condition. Nine additional people, including eight students and one teacher, were hospitalized with injuries.

"All of our victims that are at the hospital are going to make it and going to recover well, as we've been told, and we don't expect any more fatalities at this time," Smith said.

During a 9 p.m. press briefing, the GBI said there's currently no evidence to suggest that there were additional shooters. Gray is believed to have acted alone. However, investigators are actively pursuing all leads pertaining to any "potential associates" of the accused shooter.

GBI Director Chris Hosey said that investigators are aware of possible contacts that previously occurred between the suspect and the state's CPS, but don't know if that played any role in the school shooting.

"We're also aware of some previous contacts that the Department of Family and Children Services in the area had had with the suspect and his family," Hosey said. "We are pursuing that avenue as well, too."

A call was made to another nearby high school this morning with a reported threat. Police responded, investigated, and determined there was no actual threat, the GBI said, adding there is no evidence of a list of schools being targeted.