Students who survived the Georgia school shooting have said their teachers hid them in closets and the school failed to take the threat seriously before all hell broke loose.

Colt Gray, 14, opened fire at Apalachee High School on Wednesday, hitting at least 13 people and killing four. The incident was officially the deadliest of its kind in Georgia history.

But the terrifying barrage of gunfire sent some students into school closets to seek safety, leaving family and relatives outside the school waiting impatiently for updates.

Jayden Finch, a freshman from Apalachee, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that one of his friends was killed in the shooting while his teacher led him and his classmates to a closet.

He also remembers seeing a body when his class was moved to the football field.

Colt Gray’s suspected murder weapon is seen in the hallway of Apalachee High School, where he allegedly killed four people and wounded nine

“There was a threat to the school this morning, but there were so many empty threats that they didn’t take it seriously,” Jayden added.

Caden Moon, a senior at Apalachee, told the newspaper he heard several gunshots in the middle of a class.

“Everything was fine. And then all the screens went off, and then I heard about five gunshots outside my classroom,” he said.

Micah Hartsock, a third-grader at Apalachee, said he tried to stay calm and text his father as terrifying gunshots rang out in the hallway.

“There’s a shooter and I heard gunshots. I was about to say I care and I love you so if I don’t make it I’m leaving,” he wrote in his desperate message.

But families of outsiders in Georgia also spoke of the terrifying wait for updates on the well-being of their children after the school shooting.

When news of the shooting broke, parents and family members of students at the school desperately awaited information about the safety and well-being of their children.

One of the parents, William Hartman, said he received a phone call from his 17-year-old son telling his parents the incident was being filmed live on Facebook.

“I don’t know how to explain the feelings, the fear,” the father said.

The father of an Apalachee High School student, William Hartman, said he received a phone call from his 17-year-old son, telling him the shooting was being filmed on Facebook Live

Grandparents Michelle and J Watson said they had to wait 45 minutes to hear an update on their grandchild, a student at the school

‘I have two children who go to Hayman Morris (secondary school), which is adjacent to the school, and the first thing I did was call the schools straight away.

‘Then text messages and things started coming in from the schools. Terror. Absolute terror.’

The grandparents of an Apalachee High School student, Michelle and J Watson, told how they endured an agonizing 45-minute wait before hearing news about their grandchild.

‘Really sad. Really sad… You know, it took us a while to realize that she wasn’t one of the victims. I mean, 45 minutes… An hour…’ they recalled.

“An hour before we heard she was OK it was very scary. It’s the least (last) thing you expect in the heat here,” they added.

A number of surviving students told the BBC this morning how scared they were during the terrifying morning.

“I saw a boy with a gun,” said a young student.

“We heard shots, the teacher ran away, slammed the door and forced us all to go to the corner,” another recalled.

A third parent said, “My son called me while the incident was happening in class.”

Officials said Gray’s shooting spree ended within minutes of his opening fire at about 10:23 a.m., killing his four victims: teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14.

He immediately surrendered when confronted by police, and “gave up and lay down on the ground,” they added.

Student Christian Angulo, 14, was also shot dead in the senseless shooting

Teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall were killed in the tragedy

Mason Schermerhorn, 14, an autistic student at Apalachee High School, was the first victim to be identified. He was one of four people killed in the mass shooting

It is unclear how the 14-year-old gunman obtained the weapon used in the attack. According to reports, officers raided his family’s home in the hours after the shooting.

Authorities say they are still investigating how Gray was able to bring an AR-style weapon into his school. Footage of the scene shows the weapon lying on the ground as terrified students are led through the hallways to safety.

After his arrest, Gray will be charged with murder and tried as an adult, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

Footage from the scene shows students streaming onto campus as terrified parents rush to find their children. One mother described the scene outside the school as sheer “chaos.”

Lyela Sayerath, a third-grader, said she sat next to Colt Gray in math class minutes before he began the shooting.

She told CNN that Colt left the classroom at the start of class at 9:45 a.m., about a half hour before the active shooter alert sounded.

Gray hadn’t picked up a bathroom pass, she said, so she initially thought he’d simply skipped class. But then a loudspeaker went off, telling teachers to check their email.

Sayerath said Gray came back outside the classroom shortly afterward and a student stood up to open the door for him, but when he saw his gun, he jumped back.

“I think he saw that we weren’t going to let him in. And I think the classroom next to me, their door, was open, so I think he just started shooting into the classroom,” she said.

Students and residents remember those who lost their lives by lighting candles at the scene of the Apalachee High School mass shooting on Sept. 4

Security forces take action at the scene of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia

Lyela Sayarath, a sophomore at Apalachee High School, said she was sitting next to gunman Colt Gray, 14, in math class moments before he opened fire

Sayerath said Gray fired several rounds “one after the other.” He added: “When we heard it, most of the people dropped to the ground and were crawling down, like piled on top of each other.”

Sayerath said her boyfriend was in the classroom next door and saw someone get shot, which left him “shaken.” “He saw someone get shot. He had blood on him. He was limping a little bit. He looked shaken,” she added.

Sayarath described her classmate this way: Gray “never really spoke, he wasn’t there (at school) most of the time, he just skipped school… And even when he did speak, he would give one-word answers.”

Sayarath said she was “not surprised” when Gray was identified as the shooter. She said that “when you think about shooters and the way they act, it’s usually the quiet guy and he was the one who fit that description.”

But the shooter’s relatives defended him, sparking strong reactions online and within the local community.

The teen’s aunt, Annie Polhamus Brown, posted a message on Facebook after the incident addressing the issues he was facing, saying she would “take care of my nephew and what he needs on this side.”

“Check yourself before you talk about a child who never asked to deal with the crap he saw on a daily basis,” she wrote in the posts, which have since been deleted.

“Are you ready to see Polhamus’ blood in all its glory? No, neither am I.”

Polhamus Brown said she did ‘everything I could to fight for my nephew’ and criticised people for ‘blaming others’.

She also had a few words for the victims of the shooting, saying that “the families affected by my cousin’s actions deserve all the attention right now.”

“I will NOT disrespect other parents and families dealing with this tragedy. THEY DID NOT DESERVE THIS,” she wrote.