Accused GA School Shooter Denied Making Threats In 2023

WINDER, GA — The 14-year-old accused of a mass shooting at Apalachee High School that killed four people and sent nine more to hospitals had denied making school shooting threats in 2023, authorities said. Meanwhile, the aunt of suspect Colt Gray told The Washington Post the youth had struggled with mental health and begged for help.

Gray has been charged as an adult in the shooting Wednesday that killed students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, along with teachers 39-year-old Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. Gray is accused of using an assault-style rifle in the attack in a hallway outside his algebra classroom, the Associated Press said.

Additionally, eight students and a teacher were injured in the shooting, authorities said. Their conditions were not immediately known.

The accused shooter will be charged as an adult on suspicion of murder, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

The Jackson County Sheriff's office interviewed Gray in May 2023 as they looked into online posts threatening a school shooting. Investigators ultimately did not have enough evidence for an arrest, according to a report obtained Thursday. The boy, then 13, “had possibly threatened to shoot up a middle school tomorrow.”

• Related: Victims Of GA School Shooting Identified: What We Know

The tip came to the FBI from people in Australia and California who were concerned about comments made by a chat group user on the social media platform Discord, according to a Jackson County sheriff’s report obtained by The Associated Press.

The teen was asked about the threat, and told a sheriff’s investigator that “he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” the report said. Gray's father, Colin, told the officer there were hunting guns in the house, but his son did not have unsupervised access to them. The teen also denied making any online threats.

The investigator urged Colin Gray to keep his firearms locked away and told him to keep his son out of school “until this matter could be resolved,” the report said. The boy’s last day before the summer break was a few days before that conversation.

GBI Director Chris Hosey said the state Division of Family and Children’s Services also had previous contact with the teen and will investigate whether that has any connection with the shooting.

Gray's aunt, Annie Brown, who lives in Central Florida, told The Post her nephew “was begging for help from everybody around him. The adults around him failed him.”

The newspaper said that in January, Brown helped her nephew enroll at Haymon-Morris Middle School in Barrow County so he could finish eighth grade. He had just started ninth grade at Apalachee High this school year.

What Happened?

The events following the shooting swiftly unfolded after authorities arrived at the scene and ended with a teenage boy in police custody.

Authorities rushed to Apalachee around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday after receiving reports of a shooting at the Haymon Morris Road school. Upon arrival, they confeonted Gray, who they say then surrendered.

Gray was arrested and taken to the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, WSB-TV reported.

His first virtual appearance at the Barrow County Superior Court is scheduled for Friday, the AJC reported.

The school entered lockdown during the shooting, a protocol other Georgia school systems followed out of precaution. Security was also heightened at schools across the state in response to the Winder shooting.

A motive in the shooting has not been revealed. Barrow County schools are closed through Friday, Barrow County School Superintendent Dallas LeDuff said.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith at a news conference called the shooting "evil."

“This hits home for me, I was born and raised here, I went to this school system, my kids go to this school system," Smith said. "My heart hurts for these kids. I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. Love will prevail over what happened today. I assure you of that.”

State and federal leaders used the shooting to urge for more gun control, calling recent school shootings "senseless" and declaring "enough is enough."

President Joe Biden advocated for congressional Republicans and Democrats to unite to pass gun safety legislation that bans assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requires safe storage of firearms, enacts universal background checks and ends immunity for gun manufacturers.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.