A 14-year-old student is now in custody after being suspected of opening fire at a Georgia high school on Wednesday. Two teachers and two students died in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County while nine other people were also injured, police said.
The alleged shooter, identified as Colt Gray, was a student at Apalachee High School, CNN reported. Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Chris Hosey said the suspect will be charged with murder as an adult.
“He gave up, got on the ground and the deputy took him into custody,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith added, per NBC News.
A motive for the shooting is unknown. It’s also unclear how the suspect got his hands on the firearm or how he was able to bring the weapon to school.
“I don’t know why it happened. I may not ever know. We may not ever know,” Smith said.
According to police, Apalachee High School received a threatening phone call from an unknown person earlier on Wednesday morning. The caller said there would be shootings at five schools and Apalachee would be the first. Around 10:30 a.m., chaos unfolded while Apalachee High School students and staff scrambled to find safety. All other campuses across Barrow County went into a “soft lockdown.”
Erin Clark, who is the mother of a senior at Apalachee, shared the terrifying text messages she received from her son as the shooting occurred. According to CNN, 17-year-old Ethan Haney told his mother that a shooting was happening and he was scared.
“I’m leaving work. I love you,” Clark told her son before rushing to the school.
President Joe Biden shared his condolences and once again urged Congress to pass gun safety laws.
“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,” Biden said in a statement, per NBC News. “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.”
Vice President Kamala Harris echoed similar sentiments, calling it a “senseless tragedy,” according to MSNBC.
“It’s just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” she said.
Barrow County Schools Superintendent Dallas LeDuff announced that campuses will be closed for the remainder of this week.
