September 6 Georgia school shooting news | CNN (2024)

Apalachee High School, where four people were killed this week in a school shooting, will not resume classes Tuesday when all other schools in Barrow County will be returning to class, according to officials.

LeDuff emphasized on the importance of being together.

“We believe we need to be together as soon as possible to move forward and to provide some sense of familiarity for our students,” he wrote.

Families with students at Apalachee High School will be getting a separate message about returning to classes, LeDuff said.

“We are in this together, and as a community, we will continue to care for one another,” he wrote.

A 14-year-old student who was injuredin the Apalachee High School mass shooting told CNN that he could have been killedif he had been in the hallway going to the restroom.

Ronaldo Vegawas in his second-period math class when the shooting began, he said, and immediately took cover under his desk.

Vega believes the shooterfiredaroundfourto six times before going to another classroom.Afterward,Vegasaid he stood up quickly and went to close the classroom door so the shooter “couldn’t come back.”

“Iclosedthedoor,Ithrewchairsonthedoor[so]hecouldn’tpush*tin,” Vega said.

Vegawent behind the teacher’s desk and saw one of the bullets. That’swhen he realized hewas bleeding.

“I think it hit something and it hit me and I saw like a hole and then a little bit of blood on the side,” Vega said.”I thought it was somebody else’s because I originally saw blood on the ground where I laid down.”

Vega recalled that he had planned to go to the restroom after his classmate, Mason Schermerhorn, who was fatally shot.

“I was like that could have been me,” Vega said.

Cristina Irimie.

Cristina Irimie, one of four people killed in the Apalachee High School shooting, was a passionate teacher who treated her students like her own children, according to Gabrielle Buth, a relative of the late teacher.

Irimie struggled with infertility, but would say: “It’s OK because the students are my kids,” Buth told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

The night before the shooting took place, she stayed up to bake a cake for her kids in order to celebrate her birthday with her students, Buth said.

Irimie’s birthday was on August 24th, another friend told CNN, but she was unable to celebrate then because she was caring for her mother, who just had surgery, according to Buth.

The plan for Wednesday was to celebrate with cake and pizza. The celebration was interrupted by a hail of bullets. One student told CNN that Irimie sacrificed herself to protect students.

Irimie’s path to teaching began in 2012, when — after immigrating to the United States — her husband encouraged her to go back to school to do something she loved, Buth said.

Because of her passion for teaching, Irimie’s goal was for her students to love math.

“It was the hope of the future, for her, that she loved,” Buth said. “I think just teaching children something she loved.”

Outside of school, Buth said Irimie taught Romanian folklore dancing at a Romanian Orthodox Church because she “wanted to keep the tradition alive.”

A 14-year-old Apalachee High School studentsaid that if she had opened the class door on Wednesday, the suspect in the mass shooting “would have got every single one of us in that class.”

Bri Jones wasin second periodWednesday when Colt Gray, accused of killing four people in the high school on Wednesday,left the classroom, Jones said.

“We didn’t notice he left,” Jones said, adding that Gray was always quiet. But Gray came back and knocked on the door, Jones said.

The students then ran to the back of the class, and the teacher turned off the lights, Jones said.

“Once he started shooting, it’s like he kept going, it was so many gunshots after gunshots,” she said. “It felt like he wasjustshooting forever–and then like it stopped.”

Richard Aspinwall.

The students in Richard Aspinwall’s class at Apalachee High School say they used the shirts off their backs to try and stop their teacher’s bleeding when he was shot on Wednesday, according to a family friend.

Julie Woodson said she has known the Aspinwalls since 2012 and used to work with Aspinwall at Mountain View High School.

The math teacher, who was killed in the shooting, leaves behind his wife Shayna, who is a teacher at Flowery Branch High School, and two daughters, who are 2 years old and 5 years old.

Woodson shared a statement with CNN on behalf of the family.

Woodson told CNN that students told her that Aspinwall heard a commotion outside his classroom and went to see what was going on. When he did, he was shot in the chest by the 14-year-old suspect.

In what has becomeat leastthe 46th school shooting in the US this year, a 16-year-old student at a high school near Baltimore is in custody after allegedly fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy on campus Friday, authorities said.

It comes after four people were killed in a shooting at a high school in Georgia on Wednesday.

The shooting occurred at Joppatowne High School in Joppatowne, Maryland, around 12:30 p.m. ET in a first-floor men’s restroom, Harford County Sheriff JeffreyGahler said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

Authorities emphasized that the incident was not an active shooter situation. Joppatowne is about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore.

Students wait to be picked up after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on September 4.

The majority of viral social media threats since the Apalachee High School shooting have been “deemed non-credible,” law enforcement officials said.

“The public safety community is responding to an increase in school threat reporting following the shooting at Apalachee High School,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said in a joint statement Friday.

Anyone making “specific threats” will be investigated and prosecuted, according to the statement.

“However, school safety hotlines and law enforcement often see increased reporting following a mass shooting incident, as students and the public are more apt to report suspicious activity or concerns,” The FBI and GBI explained. “Reposting these online threats can cause undue panic and spread false information.”

The father of the 14-year-oldApalachee High School shootingsuspectfaces two countsof second-degree murder in connection with this week’s Georgia attack that left four dead — charges that push the legal limits of parental responsibility for a child’s alleged gun crime.

The case against Colin Gray, 54, marks justthe second timein America a parent has been charged in connection witha mass shootingby a minor, according to former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin. The charges — including four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children, with more possible — are themost severeever filed against an alleged school shooter’s parent.

Central to the case against Gray will be an interaction the father and his son had with law enforcement more than a year before Wednesday’s mass shooting; the teenager’s access to the weapon used in the attack; and what the father knew about the boy’s mental state, experts told CNN, as a portrait of the teenager’stumultuous family lifeemerges.

Sentencing of Michigan shooter’s parents: The charges against Gray come just five months after theparents of the teenager who killedfour studentsin a 2021 school shooting in Oxford, Michigan, were eachsentencedto 10 to 15 years in prison after their convictions ofinvoluntary manslaughter.

Despite similarities between the Michigan and Georgia cases, some key differences also are in play. And with the Georgia investigation still in its early stages, experts said it’s too early to tell exactly how a criminal trial of Gray might unfold and compare with the Crumbleys’.

Read more about what prosecutors will likely be scrutinizing.

Colt Gray appears in court at the Barrow County courthouse on Friday.

With victims’ families sitting only feet behind them, both 14-year-old shooting suspect Colt Gray and his father Colin Gray appeared separately before the same judge on Friday as the legal process began in connection with the horrific school shooting in Winder, Georgia, earlier this week.

The shooting at Apalachee High School left two students and two teachers dead.

Superior Court Judge Currie M. Mingledorff presided over the proceedings for both father and son.

Here’s what happened:

While fighting back tears, the grieving mother of Apalachee High School shooting victim Christian Angulo told CNN affiliate Univision that she’ll always remember the last hug her son gave her Tuesday night before he was fatally shot while in school Wednesday morning.

“He gave his father and me a hug; I will always carry that in my heart,”said Angulo’s mother, Emma Angulo.

According to Angulo’s mother,her son, a freshman at Apalachee High School, was a sweet boy with several dreams he wanted to pursue.

“He was only 14 years old; they took his whole life, his future and his time with us,” she said.

She also told Univision she moved her family from California to Georgia 10 years ago in search of a better life and safer schools.

“In California, the schools were supposedly bad, and here we find the same situation,” Angulo’s mother said, adding that she first heard about the shooting from her daughter’s friend and not from the school.

“It hurts a lot. It feels like they killed me and my family,” she said.

Police respond to a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on September 4.

Gun violence one of the topics on voters’ minds as the presidential and vice presidential candidates make their case to Americans ahead of the November election. Here’s what they’ve had to say about the school shooting in Georgia this week:

Vice President Kamala Harris: On Wednesday, the Democratic presidential nomineecalled the shooting a “senseless tragedy,” adding that it’s “one of the many issues that’s at stake in this election.”

She also criticized comments about school shootings that Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance made on Thursday (more on that below). “School shootings are not just a fact of life. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can take action to protect our children—and we will,” she said.

Former President Donald Trump: After the shooting on Wednesday, the Republican presidential nominee postedon Truth Social: “Our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, GA. These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”

Sen. JD Vance: The Republican vice presidential nominee on Thursday lamented that school shootings in the US have become “a fact of life” and called for greater security at schools.

“I don’t like this. I don’t like to admit this. I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you’re, if you are apsychoand you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets, and we have got to bolster security at our schools,”Vance saidat a campaign event in Phoenix.

As part of his comments, Vance alsosaid that strict gun laws are not the determining factor in preventing school shootings.

Gov. Tim Walz: The Democratic vice presidential nominee made the case for stricter gun safety measures during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on Thursday.

Walz called for Americans to be able to enjoy the “freedom for our kids to go to school without being shot” and indicated support for federal laws that replicate gun safety measures he approved in Minnesota, including universal background checks and a “red flag” law to restrict access to guns for people with high risk of injuring themselves or others.

“I say it as a gun owner, I say it as a veteran, I say it as a hunter. None of the things we’re proposing infringes on your Second Amendment right,” he added. “But what does infringe upon this is our children going to school and being killed, is unacceptable and doesn’t have to be this way.”

Richard Aspinwall, Cristina Irimie, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified those killed in the Apalachee High School shooting as Richard Aspinwall, 39; Cristina Irimie, 53; and Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14.

Here’s what to know about them:

Richard Aspinwall: The math teacher was described as sweet and kind by sophom*ore Ariel Bowling, who was in Aspinwall’s geometry class her freshman year. Michael Gordon, another student, echoed that, telling CNN, “He was a good guy … I had him – I’m in tenth grade – so I had him for a whole year, and he taught me a lot.” Aspinwall was also an assistant football coach, serving as defensive coordinator for the Apalachee Wildcats football team.

Cristina Irimie: She was also an Apalachee High School math teacher, the school’s website shows. The beloved teacher was having a late birthday celebration with her students the day she was shot and killed, according to a family friend.

Irimie was dedicated to her students and treated them like her own, he said. “Cristina and her husband were not able to have any biological children of their own, so she decided to turn around and love her students as her own,” Caprar said.

Christian Angulo: He was described by his older sister as a “very good kid,” who was “very sweet and so caring.”

“He was so loved by many,” Lisette Angulo wrote on aGoFundMe campaignto raise money for his funeral, which included a photo of the teen with a cake on his 14th birthday. “He really didn’t deserve this.”

Mason Schermerhorn: The14-year-old wasremembered by family friends as a “loving soul” and a “creative kid.”

“He was the sweetest most loving soul with the biggest smile and will be missed dearly,” a family friend wrote in aGoFundMe campaignfor his family.

Mason was known for his good sense of humor, family friend Rebecca Good toldCNN affiliate WXIA.

Read more about the victims.

Colin Gray, the father of teen shooting suspect Colt Gray, is charged with second-degree murder in relation to the deaths of two students at Apalachee High School, the Barrow County district attorney said Friday.

The students, Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, were killed Wednesday along with two teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie.

According to Colin Gray’s arrest warrant affidavit, the 54-year-old father allegedly gave his son a firearm “with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others.”

When asked why the father faces two counts of second-degree murder after four people were killed, Smith said the murder counts don’t apply to the adult victims.

In addition to the two counts of second-degree murder, Colin Gray also faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Earlier Friday, a judge said Colin Gray could face up to 180 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

WhileColt Gray will face additional charges, the district attorney said, it’s not certain whether his father will face more charges.

Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith speaks to the media following the arraignments of Colt and Colin Gray at the Barrow County courthouse in Winder, Georgia, on Friday.

Colt Gray, the 14-year-old charged with four counts of felony murder after Wednesday’s mass shooting at Apalachee High School, will face additional charges, Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said Friday.

Four people were killed and at least nine were hospitalized after the school shooting in Winder, Georgia.

Smith said the upcoming charges will be filed after investigators speak with injured victims.

“There will be additional charges on Colt Gray. When he was taken into custody on Wednesday, we did not have the identities or the conditions of the other victims. So we were not able to charge on those offenses,” the district attorney said.

Smith said the next step in the current case against Gray will be the grand jury, which convenes on October 17. This will be followed by a scheduled arraignment before the trial process is started, he said.

This post has been updated with additional information about next steps.

Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray’s aunt told CNN via text she didn’t believe any of his family members attended court today.

Annie Brown said Gray’s father, Colin Gray, would have been there supporting his son if he was not facing charges himself. He appeared in court Friday for a brief hearing after his son, and is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Colt Gray, 14, faces four counts of felony murder after Wednesday’s mass shooting, which killed two students and two teachers.

“He’s just a baby; it never should have happened,” Brown said.

Colin Gray walks into court for his hearing at the Barrow County courthouse in Winder, Georgia, on Friday.

Colin Gray, the father of 14-year-old Georgia school shooting suspect Colt Gray, appeared in court Friday and learned he could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.

Gray, 54, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children after Wednesday’s mass shooting, which killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School.

According to the father’s arrest warrant affidavit, Colin Gray allegedly gave his son a firearm “with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others.”

On Friday, Judge Currie Mingledorff told the father he would face the following maximum penalties if convicted:

The judge said if Colin Gray is convicted on all counts, he could face a maximum prison sentence of 180 years.

Marcee Gray, the mother of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, had warrants issued for her arrest for offenses committed in November 2023, including felony possession of controlled substances and using a false license plate.

Arrest warrant affidavits show Marcee Gray committed all six alleged offenses to warrant her arrest on November 6, 2023. Gray is accused of using a glass pipe for narcotics, possessing hydrochloride, fentanyl, and meth and concealing the identity of a vehicle.

The offenses listed are as follows:

Clarification: This post has been updated to note that these arenot active warrants. Marcee Gray already pled guilty in this case, asCNN previously reported

Judge Currie Mingledorff just called 14-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray back into the courtroom to correct on the record that the teen would not be eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted, because he is under 18 years old.

Gray could face a maximum sentence of life in prison with or without the possibility of parole, the judge said.

The judge had earlier listed death as a possible sentence for Gray’s felony murder charges. The US Supreme Courtruled in 2005that juveniles cannot be sentenced to death for crimes that were committed before the age of 18.

Gray is still being tried as an adult under Georgia law.

Mingledorff also said the court has set December 4 at 8:30 a.m. ET for his preliminary hearing, subject to change.

CNN’s Andy Rose contributed reporting.

Barrow County Superior Court Judge Currie Mingledorff speaks during Colt Gray's hearing at the Barrow County courthouse in Winder, Georgia, on Friday.

School shooting suspect Colt Gray could face life in prison if convicted on any of the four counts of felony murder filed against him, Judge Currie Mingledorff told the teen during a court appearance Friday.

The judge initially said Gray could face the death penalty if convicted, but he later clarified that the maximum penalty is life in prison due to his age.

Gray, 14, will be tried as an adult after Wednesday’s mass shooting at Apalachee High School that left two students and two teachers dead.

During the brief hearing, Gray did not enter a plea. His attorney did not request bond for the teen.

This post has been updated after the judge clarified the maximum penalty in this case.

Colin Gray, the father of the teenager suspected in Wednesday’s deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, will soon appear in court.

Moments ago, Colt Gray, the 14-year-old school shooting suspect, appeared in court for a brief hearing this morning.

Court is expected to be back in session in about 15 minutes for Colin Gray’s hearing.

Colt Gray appears in court in Winder, Georgia, on Friday.

Colt Gray, the 14-year-old school shooting suspect, appeared in court for a brief hearing this morning. He sat on the left side of court room, wearing a green shirt and tan paints.

Jackson County Judge Currie Mingledorff II presided.

Victims’ families are seated in the first row of the courtroom, with one woman holding a stuffed animal of Disney character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cradled in her arms.

Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, allegedly gave his son a firearm “with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others,” according to the father’s arrest warrant affidavit.

Colin Gray, 54, is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the affidavit states.

His 14-year-old son faces four counts of felony murder after Wednesday’s mass shooting in Winder, Georgia.

Colin Gray, father of accused Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, will be arraigned at 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday, following his son’s initial hearing at 8:30 a.m. ET, according to Barrow County District Court Administrator T.J. BeMent.

The hearings will take place in the same courtroom, and both will appear in person inside the courtroom, BeMent told CNN.

The shooting at Georgia’s Apalachee High School is at least the 45th school shooting in 2024 and the deadliest this year, according to a CNN analysis.

Of the school shootings this year, 32 have been reported on K-12 campuses and 13 on university and college campuses.

Last year, there were 82 US school shootings. Of those in 2023, 52 shootings were reported on K-12 campuses and 30 on university and college campuses.

A Discord account that the FBI had linked to school shooting suspect Colt Gray last year referenced plans for a future mass shooting and shared screenshots of firearms, according to documents obtained by CNN.

“im committing a mass shooting and im waiting a good 2-3 years,” stated the Discord account user, according to screenshots included in an FBI incident report from May 2023 obtained by CNN. “I cant kill myself yet, cause I’m not contributing anything to culture I need to go out knowing I did.”

The account referenced Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, and in separate posts shared a desire to target an elementary school and expressed frustration with the acceptance of transgender people.

Above a photograph of two firearms, the account posted, “I’m ready.”

The FBI tip was shared with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, which closed the investigation after finding that “the user behind the Discord account that made the threat cannot be substantiated.”

A Discord spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday that the platform removed an account “believed to be associated with” Gray in May 2023 for violating Discord’s policy against extremism.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 to connect with a trained counselor, or visit the988 Lifeline website.

Students embrace near a makeshift memorial at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on September 5.

In the hours since Wednesday’s shooting that left four dead, a lot of information has surfaced on the Colt Gray, the 14-year-old student charged in the shooting, along with his online activity and his father.

We’ve compiled a list of important developments that officials and court records say took place before, during and after that are related to the deadly shooting.

Here’s a timeline of what we know so far:

The charges against the father of a teenager accused of killing four people at a Georgia high school this week stem from him “knowingly allowing” his son to have a weapon, Chris Hosey, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said at a news conference.

Colin Gray, 54,has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Colin Grayis seen in a booking photo released by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office.

The father of Colt Gray has been arrested in connection with the shooting at Apalachee High School, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Colin Gray, age 54,has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Colt Gray, the 14-year-old student accused of killing four people at Apalachee High School Wednesday, told investigators “I did it” while being questioned, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told CNN.

The boy was read his Miranda rights and was “still talking,” Smith said.

Colt’s father, Colin Gray, told investigators this week that he had purchased the gun used in the killings as a holiday present for his son,CNN previously reported.

CNN is working to determine whether Colt Gray and Colin Gray have legal representation. When reached by phone on Thursday, the Barrow County Public Defender’s Office could not confirm if they were representing Colt Gray and had no comment. CNN has made several attempts to reach Colin Gray by phone and in person at the family home.

When asked Thursday whether Colin Gray could face legal repercussions in connection with the shooting, Smith said “possibly,” but added that it would be up to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to file charges.

The father of Apalachee High School mass shooting suspect Colt Gray told investigators that he purchased the gun used in the killings as a holiday present for his son in December 2023, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

That would put the gun purchase months after authorities first contacted Gray and his family as theyinvestigated a school shooting threat.

Colt, who was 13 during the May 2023 interview, said 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,” Jackson County sheriff’s investigator Daniel Miller Jr. wrote.

The teen’s father,Colin Gray, told investigators at that time he had hunting rifles in the house and said, “Colt is allowed to use them when supervised but does not have unfettered access to them,” the report said.

The Jackson County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office closed the investigation because a tip about the threat could not be substantiated.

CNN has made several attempts to reach Colin Gray by phone and in person at the family home. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

Colt Gray is seen in a booking photo.

Authorities searching the home of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray found documents that they believe he wrote referencing past school shootings, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation tells CNN.

The source said that the writings were discovered in Gray’s bedroom and included references to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

The discovery, which could shed more light on a motive for the shooting, comes amid an emerging portrait of Gray’s tumultuous family life in the years leading up to the deadly attack, revealed in a CNN review of court and law enforcement records, social media posts, and an interview with his grandfather.

Gray’s parents went through a bitter separation and custody dispute in recent years. They called law enforcement on each other, the family was evicted from at least one home, and Gray’s mother was arrested for keying her husband’s car and drug possession, law enforcement records show.

At the same time, Gray’s mother and maternal grandfather have accused Gray’s father of being verbally abusive toward his family for years. The grandfather, who asked not to be named, said he had never seen the shooting subject show any kind of anger problems, but that the turbulent family life had affected the teenager.

Now, investigators seeking to understand the suspected shooter’s motive are looking into his family’s previous contacts with the state’s child protective services agency, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday.

Attempts to reach both of the suspect’s parents for comment on Wednesday and Thursday were unsuccessful.

Read the full investigation.

Colt Gray, the 14-year-old Georgia student accused ofkilling four peopleat Apalachee High School, faces four counts of felony murder, according to charging documents obtained by CNN.

Authorities say he is expected to be tried as an adult.

Gray will make his first court appearance Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET.