At least four people are dead Wednesday and a 14-year-old boy is in custody after opening fire at a high school in north central Georgia and putting the building on lockdown, authorities said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) confirmed that four people died at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia — approximately 40 miles northeast of Atlanta – and nine others were taken to various hospitals with gunshot wounds. The suspect is alive and in custody.
“At approximately 10:23 a.m. officers from multiple law enforcement agencies and Fire/EMS personnel were dispatched to the high school in reference to a reported active shooting,” the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
GBI Director Chris Hosey told reporters Wednesday afternoon that two students and two teachers were confirmed dead. Hosey also identified the shooter as 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at the school.
“[Gray] has been taken into custody,” Hosey said. “He will be charged with murder, and he will be tried as an adult and handled as an adult.”
Barrow County Sheriff Judd Smith addressed reporters earlier on Wednesday, providing limited details. Smith said he first received a call of an active shooter at 9:30 a.m. He confirmed that there were “multiple injuries.”
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Law enforcement is seen responding to a shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Ga., Wednesday. (WAGA)
The sheriff said law enforcement officials were conducting a “very, very fluid investigation” and asked for patience from the media to let them gather the facts. He predicted that it will take “multiple days” to figure out what happened and how.
Smith confirmed at the time that a suspect was in custody, and said they were “in the process” of reuniting students with their parents.
Georgia authorities had not released the identities of the deceased and wounded victims of the Apalachee High School shooting when Smith spoke, but one woman came forward to say her father was shot.
Cars are parked on the sides of a road as law enforcement officers work at the scene of a shooting at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, in Winder, Ga. (Reuters/Elijah Nouvelage)
In a public Facebook post on Wednesday, a woman named Katie Phenix explained that her father David Phenix had been shot at the school.
“We are so thankful for all the texts, calls, and messages about my dad, David Phenix,” the daughter wrote. “There was a…
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