14-Year-Old Boy Identified as Georgia School Shooting Suspect
The suspect in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, has been identified as Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student from the school. The news was confirmed by Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey during a news conference, CNN reports.
Hosey said that two teachers and two students were killed and nine others were injured and taken to hospitals. The suspect will be charged with murder and prosecuted as an adult, Hosey and Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith stated.
More from Rolling Stone
Authorities first received reports of an active shooter at 10:20 a.m. ET on Wednesday. CNN reports that multiple law enforcement officials said that the high school received an earlier phone threat that warned there would be shootings at five different schools and that Apalachee would be the first. The outlet said that officials are investigating the call and do not know who placed it.
All schools within the Barrow County School System, including Apalachee, were placed on lockdown Wednesday.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has directed all available state resources to respond to the shooting, he posted in a statement on social media. Kemp urged “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state.”
In a separate statement, Kemp wrote: “We continue to work closely with local, state, and federal partners to make any and all resources available to help this community on this incredibly difficult day and in the days to come.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said that “the FBI and ATF are on the scene, working with state, local, and federal partners” during a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force.
“I am devastated for the families that have been affected by this terrible tragedy,” Garland added.
The White House released a statement from President Joe Biden, who wrote, “What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart. Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”
The president called on Republicans in Congress to “finally say ‘enough is enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun-safety legislation.”
He continued, “We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers. These measures will not bring those who were tragically killed today back, but it will help prevent more tragic gun violence from ripping more families apart.”
This is a developing story…
Best of Rolling Stone