Apalachee High School shooting: 2 students, 2 teachers dead, 14-year-old suspect ID'd

UPDATE | Sept. 4, 2024, 6:23 PM CST

Winder, Ga. — Cell phone footage has emerged of the terrifying moments students at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia were evacuated during a shooting Wednesday morning. With hands in the air, students exited calmly as officers ran by holding their weapons. 

“If someone decides to take a firearm into a school, where kids are given an education – to me it’s hateful,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told reporters Wednesday evening. 

The high school had received an earlier phone threat, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN. The phone call Wednesday morning warned there would be shootings at five schools, and that Apalachee would be the first. It is not known who placed the call.

It was not immediately known whether the teenage suspect had some connection with his victims, Smith said, though officials stressed that will be part of the investigation.

Schools in Barrow County will remain closed the rest of the week.

The U.S. has suffered at least 385 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as those in which four or more victims are shot. That’s an average of more than 1.5 mass shootings every day, according to CNN.

UPDATE | Sept. 4, 2024, 3:42 PM CST

Winder, Ga. — Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey has identified Colt Gray, 14, as the suspect in the Sept. 4 mass shooting at a Winder, Georgia, high school. Gray is a student at the school and will be charged as an adult, added Hosey. A school resource officer reportedly confronted Gray, who then surrendered. 

Two teachers and two students were killed, Hosey shared during a press conference late Wednesday. Nine other victims were taken to hospital with injuries. 

The daughter of one of the victims, Katie Phenix shared a post on Facebook, stating: “We are so thankful for all the texts, calls, and messages about my dad, David Phenix. There was a shooting this morning at Apalachee High School and my dad was shot in the foot and in the hip, shattering his hip bone."

"He arrived to the hospital alert and awake. He just got out of surgery and is stable," said Katie about her father David Phenix. 

UPDATE | Sept. 4, 2024, 2:32 PM CST

Winder, Ga. — Four people were killed, and nine others injured in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, according the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. 

Law enforcement officials haven't yet commented on how many of the victims, if any, were students. The suspect is in custody, according to the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office. It was not immediately clear if the suspect was a student at the school.

"What you see behind us is an evil thing," Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said at a brief news conference outside the school after the scene was cleared.

Georgia State Patrol said it responded to an active scene at the school around 9:30 a.m. 

At least five ambulances and a large active law enforcement presence were at the campus Wednesday morning, according to video from outside the school. A least one medical helicopter was seen airlifting a patient from the scene. Footage at the scene also showed people gathering on a football field near the school as students appeared to pray.

Special agents from the FBI responded to help local law enforcement, a bureau spokesperson said shortly after the shooting.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp directed all available state resources to help at the scene, he said in a statement on social media. The governor 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.”

Apalachee High School has nearly 1,900 students in grades 9-12. 

The district had a four-day weekend for the Labor Day holiday, according to the official calendar.

Winder, a community about an hour outside of Atlanta, had a population of about 18,338 as of the 2020 census, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Barrow County School System is the 24th largest school district in the state, per the district’s website.

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