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    • Georgia High School Shooting: Who Are the Victims and ‘Shooter’ Colt Gray? | Gun Violence News
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    Georgia High School Shooting: Who Are the Victims and ‘Shooter’ Colt Gray? | Gun Violence News

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    EXPLANATION

    A 14-year-old boy reportedly opened fire at Apalachee High School in the US state of Georgia, killing two students and two teachers.

    A 14-year-old boy reportedly opened fire at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, killing two students and two teachers and wounding nine others. The incident is the first mass shooting at a school in the United States since the start of the school year, but the 23rd such incident in 2024.

    Here you can read everything about the victims, the suspect and the shooting.

    What happened in Georgia and when?

    • A shooting took place at Apalachee High School.
    • Lyela Sayarath, 16, a student at the school, told CNN she was sitting next to the suspected attacker before the shooting occurred.
    • The suspected shooter left an algebra class at about 9:45 a.m. (13:45 GMT). Later, as class was ending, he returned. A girl tried to open the door but saw the gun and did not open it. She reported that the shooter then went into the classroom next door and began shooting.
    • Officers first received reports of a shooting at the school around 10:20 a.m. local time (14:20 GMT).
    • After the shooting, all schools in the district were placed on lockdown and police were dispatched to all high schools in the district.
    • According to a CNN report, Apalachee High School received a phone alert earlier that morning about shootings at five schools, with Apalachee being identified as the first target.

    Where did the shooting take place?

    • Apalachee High School is located in the town of Winder, Georgia. It is an hour’s drive from Atlanta, the state’s largest city and capital.
    • The school has nearly 1,900 students and is one of three high schools in the Barrow County School System.
    • In the state of Georgia, individuals must be 18 or older to purchase handguns. Minors are also prohibited from possessing handguns. In 2019, Georgia ranked 15th in firearm-related deaths in the U.S. and 10th for the southern region, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
    • Georgia ranks 46th out of 50 states in the U.S. in the strength of its gun laws, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control. The group describes Georgia’s policy as “among the weakest” in the U.S.

    Interactive_School_Shooting_Georgia_September_5_2024

    Who is Colt Gray, the suspected shooter?

    • The suspected shooter has been identified by authorities as Colt Gray. He is a 14-year-old student and will be charged and tried as an adult, authorities said.
    • Gray was armed with an “AR platform style weapon,” or semi-automatic rifle. An AR platform rifle, the AR-15, has been involved in some of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.
    • Gray was questioned by local police in May 2023 after the FBI received “multiple anonymous tips regarding online threats to commit a school shooting at an unknown location and time.”
    • According to the FBI, his father said he did have hunting rifles in his home at the time, but he would not allow unescorted access to them. They also said there was no probable cause for an arrest at the time.
    • Student Lyela Sayarath described Gray as “pretty quiet.” She said, “He never really spoke. I can’t tell you what his voice sounded like, or even describe his face. He was just there.”

    Who do we know of the victims?

    Officials said four people were killed and nine others were hospitalized. The four victims were identified as:

    • Christian Angulo, a 14-year-old student
    • Mason Schermerhorn, a 14-year-old student
    • Christina Irimie, a 53-year-old math teacher
    • Richard Aspinwall, a 39-year-old math teacher and assistant football coach

    All nine people in hospital (eight students and one teacher) are injured and are expected to recover.

    How did the presidential candidates respond to the high school shooting?

    • The U.S. is still two months away from election night. Georgia is a key battleground state that both main candidates — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump — desperately want to win.
    • While campaigning in New Hampshire, Harris described the Georgia killings as “a senseless tragedy among so many senseless tragedies.”
    • “And it’s just outrageous that parents in our country, the United States of America, have to send their children to school every day worrying whether their child is going to come home alive,” Harris said.
    • In a social media post, Trump said: “These beloved children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
    • Trump himself was a victim of gun violence last month when a gunman shot his ear in a failed assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Still, his campaign has vowed to protect gun rights and roll back restrictions put in place under incumbent President Joe Biden.
    • Trump’s vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, described the shooting in a social media post as “despicable violence.”
    • Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz commented on the school shooting while campaigning in Pennsylvania. “This is tragic… and our hearts are there now, but our work is to prevent this from happening in the future, as we know,” Walz added.

    What about mass shootings in the US?

    • The Gun Violence Archive reported that there had been 384 mass shootings in the U.S. this year before the Georgia shooting. The group defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are killed or shot, not including the shooter.
    • According to EdWeek, a news organization that covers primary and secondary education, there have been 23 school shootings in the US this year.

    interactive-School shootings in the US in 2024-September 5, 2024-1725528712

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