On Sept. 4, around 10:30 in the morning Apalachee High School went into a lockdown due to an active shooter on the campus. Local police were notified and immediately began working on neutralizing the threat. The shooter, who was later identified as 14 – year- old Colt Gray, came in contact with a school resource officer and gave himself up to the deputy and was arrested.
After police evacuated the building and eliminated the threat they discovered that the student had killed four people with two being students and two being teachers. 19 others were also wounded and were taken to the hospital where they are expected to make a full recovery.
Gray was arrested and admitted to Georgia’s Department of Juvenile Justice and was questioned by investigators. Gray is facing four counts of felony murder and is being tried as an adult. The following day Gray’s father, Colin Gray, was arrested as he admitted to supplying Colt with the gun(that)he used in the shooting.
News of this tragic incident sent shockwaves through the state of Georgia as people from across the state sent their condolences to the families that were impacted in the shooting. Apalachee High school would shut down their school for the rest of the week along with all of Barrow county. Barrow county announced that all schools except for Apalachee high will return to school on Tuesday Sept. 10.
North Forsyth senior Ty Johntson stated he was “worried and scared” when he first learned about the shooting because one of his friends attends Apalachee high. Johntson also added that it makes him “more cautious at school” because of the event and he worries that something similar could happen at any moment.
After this event took place schools all across the state of Georgia began receiving threats as a result of the shooting that occurred at Apalachee but local police for those schools investigated and determined there was no active threat against them at that time.
The tragedy that occurred at Apalachee sent fear across the state and this fear will linger for a while as Apalachee High and the state of Georgia continue to mourn the loss of the four individuals that were killed in the shooting.
In an interview with CNN Barrow County Sheriff, Jud Smith said,“hate will not prevail in this county” as he described his response to the tragedy that occurred at Apalachee High. This statement is something that will stick with Barrow county for a long time as they try to move on.
