Student says alleged gunman tried to get into classroom before Apalachee High School shooting

Once again, classrooms and hallways turned into scenes of carnage and horror as a mass shooter killed four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia on Wednesday.

It’s the 45th school shooting so far this year and the deadliest US school shooting since March 2023.

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Colt Gray, 14, is accused of killing two students and two teachers with an AR-platform weapon – including two 14-year-old students, Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, 53-year-old math teacher Christina Irimie and 39-year-old math teacher and assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall.

Nine others were injured and are expected to recover.

It was not immediately clear whether the gunman knew or specifically targeted his victims, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.

APTOPIX Georgia School Shooting
Four people are dead after a 14-year-old boy opened fire at Apalachee High School in Georgia. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP

Lyela Sayarath, a junior at Apalachee High School, told CNN she was sitting next to Gray moments before the deadly shooting occurred.

She said he left the classroom at the beginning of their Algebra 1 class about 9.45am local time. Lyela thought Gray was going to the bathroom, but he didn’t take a pass, so she assumed he was skipping class, she said.

Toward the end of her Algebra class, Lyela said someone over the loudspeaker told her teacher to check her email.

Shortly after, Gray returned to the classroom outside of the shut door, which Lyela said locks automatically. She said a girl in the class went to open the door for him but then jumped backward after presumedly seeing that he had a gun.

“I think he wanted to come to us first,” Lyela told CNN.

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


Lyela Sayarath, a junior at Apalachee High School.

Lyela Sayarath, a junior at Apalachee High School.
Credit: CNN

Lyela said the students in her classroom hid behind desks, as they heard the gunshots, which she described as “just one after another.”

“When we heard it, most people just dropped to the floor and like kind of crawled in an area like piled on top of each other,” she said.

“The teacher turned off the lights, but we all just kind of piled together. And like I pushed desks in front of us.”

Lyela said her friend was in the classroom next to her, where the shooting was taking place.

“He was pretty shaken up,” she said of her friend.

“He saw somebody get shot. He had blood on him. He was kinda limping. He looked horrified.”

Lyela described Gray as quiet and shy, and would only respond with single-word answers when they worked as a group on projects together.

The first report of an active shooter came in about 10.20am. Two school resource officers and other law enforcement quickly arrived, Georgia Bureau of Investigations Director Chris Hosey said.

One of the school resource officers confronted the shooter, who surrendered and was taken into custody.

Parents walk their child out of Apalachee High School after a shooting
Parents walk their child out of Apalachee High School after a shooting Credit: Mike Stewart/AP
Apalachee High School
Students assembled at an American football stadium after a reported shooting at a school campus. Credit: AAP

The alleged shooter is in custody and is expected to be tried as an adult. It was not immediately clear when he would make his first court appearance, but it will be “within a reasonable amount of time,” Hosey said.

The weapon used in the shooting was an AR-platform weapon, he added. A law enforcement official previously told CNN it was an AR-15-style rifle.

It’s also not clear when and how the suspect brought the rifle to school.

“We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline, from the time that he got here to school (Wednesday) until the incident,” Hosey said.

Barrow County schools will be closed the rest of this week as the district’s 15,000 students process the tragedy that unfolded just one month into the school year.

Some Apalachee High students say they worry about going back to class.

“I want to go to school worrying about what my GPA is going to be when my year is over and worrying about my career,” 14-year-old Macey Right said.

“I really don’t want to go back. I feel like I shouldn’t have to go back to school worrying about dying.”

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