Law enforcement agencies were actively seeking the individual suspected of the shooting in Georgia, following a concerned tip-off from his mother earlier that day.
Before the recent shooting at Apalachee High School, 14-year-old Colt Gray sent a chilling, enigmatic message to his mother, Marcee Gray, that triggered her to alert the school about potential issues.
The text read, “I’m sorry, mom.”
She then phoned the school and requested administrators to check on her son. Subsequently, authorities began searching for Colt Gray, as detailed by Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith on CNN affiliate WXIA.
Smith elaborated, “She did speak to someone in the school, and we were actively looking for him. I am not aware of her stating he’d carry out this act or had planned it, but there were exchanges of messages.”
One resource officer was dispatched to find the boy, but another student with a name almost identical to Colt's attended the same class, and both were not in the classroom at the time, as per the sheriff.
Smith explained, “He went to the bathroom with a student who shares a name quite similar to his – that’s who they believed was being sought.”
Smith later stated that officers thought they located Colt Gray in time, but they were actually speaking with the other student. “As we were attempting to understand what was transpiring, the shooting commenced,” Smith informed WXIA.
Authorities accused Colt of unleashing an AR-15-style rifle within the high school, resulting in the death of two teachers and two students. Nine other individuals, consisting of eight students and one teacher, who sustained injuries are expected to recover, authorities mentioned.
Newly obtained emergency communication and dispatch records from the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office offer insights into the ensuing chaos and panic associated with the report of an active shooter at the school and the worries of the parents as they received distressing text messages from their children.
The September 4 assault marked the 45th school shooting of 2024 and the deadliest US school shooting since the March 2023 occurrence at The Covenant School in Nashville.
Colt Gray, alleged perpetrator of the tragedy at Winder High School, is now facing four counts of felony murder and will be prosecuted as an adult. His lawyer, Alfonso Kraft Jr., declined to comment when reached by phone.
Colt’s father, Colin Gray, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of child cruelty following accusations of allowing his son to possess a weapon, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. CNN has attempted to reach out to Colin Gray's legal team.
‘We have an active shooter at Apalachee High School’
A 10-minute call was placed from Marcee Gray’s phone to the school at 9:50 a.m. ET on the day of the shooting, as reported by the Washington Post.
Colt Gray had departed his Algebra 1 class around 9:45 a.m. ET, as per Lyela Sayarath, who sat next to him in class and had previously spoken to CNN.
She stated that an administrator who was seeking Columbia confused him with another student.
The first report of the shooting came in from a “RapidSOS” device at 10:22 a.m. ET, as indicated by Barrow County’s computer-aided dispatch reports released on Friday.
“Active shooter!” an officer is heard shouting on one audio clip while communicating with a dispatcher, who repeats the warning. Another officer can be heard responding calmly, “Correct. We have an active shooter at Apalachee High School.”
Two minutes later, the officers had determined that the suspect’s name was “Colt” and that one student was deceased, according to the reports.
At 10:30 a.m., the suspect was “under arrest, uninjured,” the reports showed. Fifteen minutes later, the reports detailed one death in a hallway and three more in another hallway.
An officer, sounding slightly out of breath, asked the dispatcher to “summon EMS.” She confirmed that emergency medical services were heading to the high school.
‘I’m just concerned it was him’
When Colt’s aunt learned about the message he had sent, she placed a tearful 911 call shortly after 11:45 a.m. ET that day. Emotionally, she expressed her fear that her nephew was involved in the school shooting at Apalachee High School, as per a recording released on Friday.
She said, “My mom just informed me that Colt texted his mom, my sister, and his father that he was sorry, and they contacted the counselor to retrieve him immediately.” She then added, “And then she stated that she saw that there was a shooting, and I’m just concerned it was him.”
The woman then shared her and her sister’s phone numbers with the 911 operator, expressing her preference for them to contact his mother first, “because I’ve been trying to get through to someone.”
“I’m just so worried about what’s going to happen,” she informed the operator.
Meanwhile, a school counselor had informed Marcee Gray that her son had mentioned school shootings, which prompted her, along with her grandson’s grandfather, to travel 200 miles from Fitzgerald to Winder, Georgia.
A dude contacted a dispatcher in another recording, sharing that his kid, a school psychologist, was collaborating with a pupil in a trailer situated "near where the gunfire was occurring." He explained that his daughter attempted to conceal herself and the student behind a desk.
"I'd like them to comprehend that she's in a trailer and she can't lock the doors. If they could examine the trailers... ideally, they can check and retrieve her," the man can be heard stating.
The dispatcher inquired if the student was with the psychologist, to which the dad replied, "yes, and she didn't wish to dial, she didn't wish to create any commotion."
CNN's Isabel Rosales, Andy Rose, Lauren Mascarenhas, Celina Tebor, Eric Levenson, Dakin Andone, Meridith Edwards, Sara Smart, Nouran Salahieh, Steve Almasy, Scott Glover, Holly Yan, Jaide Timm-Garcia, Keith Allen, Rebekah Riess, Devon Sayers, Kelly McCleary, Emma Tucker, Alaa Elassar, and Taylor Galgano collaborated on this report.
After sharing her concerns with the school, Marcee Gray joined her son's grandfather in traveling to Apalachee High School from Fitzgerald, wanting to ensure Colt's safety.
Despite the chaos, authorities managed to locate and apprehend Colt Gray, the alleged perpetrator, without any injuries to himself or others.
