'Strict Lockdown': chronology of the Apalachee High School shooting incident
Within two hours of arriving at Apalachee High School in Winder, legal authorities claimed that he carried out the most lethal US school shooting since the March 2023 incident at the Covenant School in Nashville, making it the 45th such event for the year.
Two educators and two learners were murdered, and nine more individuals, including one teacher and eight students, sustained injuries.
Recent records from the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, both emergency and dispatch, captured the pandemonium and fear that unfolded within the school as an active shooter was reported and outside the school as anxious parents received distressing messages from their children.
Colt Gray, aged 14, who attended the school from August 14 and missed nine classes prior to the incident, has been charged with four counts of felony murder. Additional charges are expected to follow, according to the Barrow County district attorney, who further indicated that he would be tried as an adult. Conviction could result in a prison sentence of up to life.
Colt Gray’s father, Colin Gray, 54, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of child cruelty. He allegedly obtained the weapon claimed to have been used in the shooting as a Christmas gift for his son in December 2023, according to two confidential sources with firsthand knowledge of the investigation.
Neither the accused son nor his father have entered pleas. When approached by CNN, Colt Gray's attorney declined to comment, and Colin Gray's attorney has not responded to a request for comment.
September 4 at Apalachee High School
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Gray boarded the bus with a camouflage-style rifle concealed in his backpack along with a knife, as the school lacks metal detectors.
At around 9:45 a.m., during his Algebra 1 class, Gray requested permission to visit the front office and speak to someone, the bureau stated. The teacher consented and allowed him to leave with his possessions. A classmate sitting next to him, Lyela Sayarath, had earlier disclosed this information to CNN.
Gray sent an ominous, enigmatic message to his mother, Marcee Gray, prompting her to alert the school about potential issues. “I’m sorry, mom,” the message read. Additionally, an unknown caller warned the school of shootings at five different schools, asserting that Apalachee would be the first.
Marcee Gray placed a 10-minute call to the school at 9:50 a.m., requesting authorities to check on her son. Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith informed CNN affiliate WXIA that they initiated a search for him as a result.
A resource officer was dispatched to locate the boy but mistook another student with a similar name for Gray, as neither was present in the classroom at the time, according to Sheriff Smith.
“He went to the bathroom with a student bearing a name similar to his - that’s the individual they believe we’re looking for,” Smith said.
The law enforcement officers claimed to have apprehended Gray in time but were interacting with the wrong student. “As we attempted to determine the situation, the shooting commenced,” Smith told WXIA.
Shortly following Gray’s departure from the bathroom and his hiding from educators, he emerged wielding the rifle and searching for “vulnerable targets,” said Smith to WXIA.
Authorities received the first reports of an active shooter on campus at 10:20 a.m., following an individual pressing a panic button offered to teachers only a week prior, according to the Sheriff.
The first call regarding the shooting was made at 10:22 a.m. ET via a “RapidSOS” device, as per Barrow County computer-aided dispatch reports disclosed on Friday. Officers from the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the school shortly thereafter, accompanied by two school resource officers.
“Active shooter!” an officer is heard shouting in one clip while conversing with a dispatcher, who repeats the phrase back to him. Another officer is heard responding calmly, “Indeed, we are dealing with an active shooter at Apalachee High School.”
Two minutes later, authorities had named the suspect as "Colt," and one individual had already been killed, according to the reports.
The suspect surrendered following a confrontation by a resource officer and was taken into custody, Smith declared. By 10:30 a.m., Gray was "in custody, unharmed," the reports indicated.
Fifteen minutes later, the reports showed one fatality in a corridor and three more in another.
An officer, sounding out of breath, requested the dispatcher to "summon EMS." She affirmed that emergency medical services had been dispatched to the high school.
At 11:38 a.m., the school sent an urgent text to parents: “Haymon-Morris Midd: Parents and Guardians, HMMS is still on lockdown. HMMS students are secure and safe. Please be patient.”
Shortly after 11:45 a.m., a woman claiming to be Colt’s aunt contacted a Barrow County 911 operator, expressing fear that her nephew might have been implicated in the school shooting at Apalachee High School, according to a recording released on Friday.
“My mom just informed me that Colt texted his mom, my sister, and his dad that he was sorry, and they informed the counselor to retrieve him immediately,” the woman informed the operator. “Then she said she heard that a shooting had occurred, and I’m just fearful it was him.”
Meanwhile, Marcee Gray's son was speaking about school shootings to his school counselor, which led Marcee and her grandpa to drive 200 miles from Fitzgerald to Winder, Georgia, according to a conversation with ABC News.
Regarding why the responding officers didn't just shoot the suspect, the sheriff explained to WXIA that the suspect had agreed to drop the gun and lay on the ground in the prone position, as instructed.
"Once we cuffed him, the threat was over," the sheriff noted.
As soon as the suspect was detained, law enforcement officers rushed into Apalachee High School, ordering students out of their classrooms while paramedics attended to the injured.
By mid-afternoon, the school sent out another text: "Haymon-Morris Midd: Law enforcement now permits lifting the lockdown...Thank you."
While families were trying to reunite outside the school, Lyela Sayarath shared her story with a CNN reporter. She described the scene where she saw a friend who had been in a classroom where gunshots were fired.
"He witnessed it. He saw someone get shot. He had blood on him. He was limping. He looked terrified," Lyela said.
This report was contributed by CNN's Dalia Faheid, Ashley R. Williams, Alisha Ebrahimji, Nouran Salahieh, Michelle Krupa, Nicole Chavez and Jamiel Lynch.
The local authorities discussed the implications of the incident at Apalachee High School, noting that it was the 45th such event in the US for the year and the most lethal since March 2023's Covenant School shooting in Nashville.
In response to the shooting, Colt Gray's mother alerted the school about potential issues, leading to a search for the boy, but law enforcement officers mistook another student with a similar name for Gray.
