Four people were killed and nine more were hospitalized with injuries after a shooting Wednesday morning at a high school in northern Georgia, authorities have confirmed.Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at an afternoon news conference that two of the victims who were killed were students and two were teachers at Apalachee High School, located in Winder, Georgia.The suspect was identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at the school, Hosey said. He was taken into custody alive. The alleged shooter will be charged with murder and “handled” as an adult, Hosey added.
The victims were identified as Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. Aspinwall and Irimie were both math teachers, according to the school’s website.
All nine of the hospitalized victims had been shot “in some capacity,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said. All nine were expected to survive, Smith said.
Law enforcement officials arrive to give a press conference outside of Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Sept. 4, 2024, after a shooting took place in which four people were killed, including two students and two teachers. A 14-year-old suspect was arrested. CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The suspect surrendered when he was confronted by responding law enforcement officers, Smith said. Smith disclosed that the alleged gunman was speaking with authorities and that those conversations were “helping with our investigation.” He was being held at the Barrow County Detention Center.
The alleged shooter used an AR platform-style gun and there was no evidence any other shooters were involved, according to Hosey.
“We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline from the time that he got here to school today to the time the incident took place,” Hosey said in a late-night news conference.
FBI Atlanta said on social media Wednesday night that county authorities had interviewed the suspect last year about online threats to commit a school shooting.
According to FBI Atlanta, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center found that the posts came from Georgia, and “the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for action.”
The sheriff’s office interviewed the then-13-year-old boy and his father. The boy said he was not responsible for the threats. The father said he had hunting guns in the house, but that his son did not have “unsupervised access to them,” FBI Atlanta said.
“Jackson County alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject, FBI Atlanta said. “At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels.”
Two gunshot victims were taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow and one gunshot victim was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville. All three had injuries that were not considered life-threatening. A spokesperson for Grady Health System, which operates Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, previously said staff had received one gunshot wound patient from the high school.
In addition to the wounded, multiple patients came into the hospital system with anxiety symptoms and others experiencing panic attacks, a spokesperson confirmed to CBS News.
“This is a very, very fluid investigation,” said Smith. “This is going to take multiple days for us to get answers as to what happened and why this happened.”
Administrators had earlier placed students and faculty on lockdown as reports emerged online of a possible active shooter at the school in Winder, Georgia, which is about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Officers were dispatched to the site at approximately 10:23 a.m. EDT, according to the sheriff. The premises were cleared within an hour, the school said, and students started being released to their families.
According to Smith, law enforcement was notified of the threat thanks to a new security system that had been installed about a week earlier. Smith noted there were three school resources officers on campus at the time of the shooting.
Georgia school shooting locationApalachee High School
Marques Coleman, 14, a student at the school told CBS affiliate WANF he was inside the classroom when the shooting happened and something in his head told him to look to his left. “I see a kid with a, he had like a big gun,” said Coleman, who said the student just started shooting. “I got up, I started running, he started shooting like, like 10 times. He shot at least at least 10 times.”
Coleman said he dived behind the desk and his teacher got in front of him, “My teacher started barricading the door with desks,” he said. After he got up Coleman told WANF he saw, “one of my classmates on the ground bleeding so bad,” another girl shot in the leg and a friend shot in the stomach.
“I just thank God that I wasn’t the one that got hit, you know, like in the midst of all of it happening. I was just thanking God because you know, he had his hands around me and stuff like that because I could have been the one that got here because I was right there. He could have easily got me. But God had his hands around me,” said Coleman.
There was a heavy police presence seen on the school’s property Wednesday morning, WANF reported at around 11 a.m. Aerial footage from the news station showed dozens of ambulances, officers and a medical helicopter gathered in the parking lot and on the green outside of the building. At that time, at least one person had been transferred into the helicopter on a stretcher and students evacuated to the school’s stadium, where buses were due to pick them up, according to WANF.
Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation were also called to the scene. FBI Atlanta said they were “coordinating with and supporting local law enforcement” in a statement shared just before 12 p.m. on social media.
A medevac helicopter lands at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, Sept. 4, 2024, in a screen capture from video footage.WANF-TV
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp addressed the situation in a social media statement released around the same time, saying his office had moved state resources to help with the response to what he described as an “incident at Apalachee High School.”
“I have directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School and urge all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state,” Kemp said. “We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners as we gather information and further respond to this situation.”
President Biden and his administration were aware of the shooting, the White House Press Office said in a statement.
“President Biden has been briefed by his Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall, on the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia and his administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information,” the statement said.
Some 1,900 students are enrolled at Apalachee High School. Classes begin each day at 8:15 a.m., according to the district calendar district calendar. Barrow County schools will be closed for the remainder of the week, the superintendent said.
Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the United States of violating a fragile ceasefire during the past 48 hours in the southern coastal province of Hormozgan, without specifying the incident.
The accusation comes after US Central Command said its forces had on Monday attacked missile sites and boats in southern Iran that were trying to lay mines in the Gulf, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it fired at US aircraft trying to enter its airspace.
“The US terrorist army, continuing its illegal and unjustified actions since the ceasefire… has, in the past 48 hours, committed a gross violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.
It added that Tehran “will not leave any evil unanswered and will not hesitate to defend the Iranian nation,” without elaborating.
Tuesday’s statement came as a top Iranian delegation was in Qatar for talks as part of a “diplomatic process” aimed at ending the war with the United States, which broke out on February 28
U.S. fighter jets have reportedly struck IRGC naval boats in the Gulf after Iranian forces allegedly targeted a vessel near Bandar Abbas.
U.S. Central Command confirms “self-defense strikes” were carried out against Iranian boats and missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions in the region.
It was stated that the numbers of dead has increased from 9 to 15, with dozens still missing while others remain injured.
According to emerging reports, the strikes targeted IRGC maritime assets and defensive positions during what rapidly escalated into a major military confrontation in the region. Rescue and emergency operations are said to be ongoing as authorities continue searching for missing personnel.
Iranian and regional media report heavy explosions and gunfire near Bandar Abbas, while negotiations between Washington and Tehran continue in Qatar.
The situation is still developing, and some battlefield claims remain independently unverified.
Secret Service agents are seen after a lockdown was lifted at the White House
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A man who opened fire Saturday near a White House security checkpoint is dead after being shot by officers who returned fire, the U.S. Secret Service said. It was the third incidence of gunfire in the vicinity of President Donald Trump in the past month.
The law enforcement agency said in a statement posted on X that the man was in the area of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue when he “pulled a weapon from his bag” shortly after 6 p.m. EDT and began firing. Secret Service officers returned fire and hit the suspect, who died at a hospital, the agency said.
The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best, said a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
According to District of Columbia court records, Best was arrested in July 2025 after he attempted to enter a different White House checkpoint without authorization, didn’t heed officers’ commands to stop, “claimed he was Jesus Christ” and said he wanted to be arrested.
An initial hearing was held and a “Pretrial Stay Away Order” was issued, typically a measure ordering a defendant not to go near a person or area before a trial. A bench warrant was issued in August after a notice of “noncompliance” against Best, who did appear for a subsequent hearing.
Latest gunfire incident around Trump
It was the third time in the past month that shots were fired near the president after incidents at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April and near the Washington Monument earlier in May.
A bystander was also struck on Saturday, but a law enforcement official said it wasn’t clear whether that person was hit by the suspect’s initial bullets or those fired subsequently by officers.
Secret Service said none of its officers were injured, and that Trump — who was at the White House at the time — was not “impacted.” Trump originally was scheduled to spend the weekend at his New Jersey golf club but changed his plans on Friday to stay at the White House instead.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media that agency personnel were on the scene and “we will update the public as we’re able.”
Evidence of the shooting was visible on a sidewalk just outside the White House complex, where yellow crime scene tape snaked across the pavement and Secret Service officers placed dozens of orange evidence markers on the ground. Medical material, including what appeared to be purple surgical gloves and kits typically used by emergency medical personnel, were also seen.
Gunshots heard by journalists at the White House
Journalists working at the White House on Saturday evening reported hearing a series of gunshots and were told to seek shelter inside the press briefing room.
In a post shared on X, ABC News senior White House correspondent Selina Wang shared dramatic video of the moment she said she heard what “sounded like dozens of gunshots” and ducked for cover. Writing that she had been performing a routine task that White House reporters do daily — filming themselves on a cellphone for a social media post — Wang’s video shows her speaking for a few seconds about Trump’s statements earlier Saturday about a potential Iran deal.
As the sounds of gunfire are heard in the background, Wang’s eyes grow wider, and she ducks down in the media tent, which is among those situated in a line along the White House driveway where broadcasters film their reports. On X, Wang’s video had been shared thousands of times as of Saturday evening, and viewed at least 3 million times.
Shooting scene not far from a deadly incident last year
The shooting scene is within walking distance of where a gunman ambushed two members of the West Virginia National Guard last November.
U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from the wounds she suffered in that shooting. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, then 24, was critically wounded. Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been charged in that incident.
The gunfire Saturday came nearly a month after what law enforcement authorities said was an attempted assassination of the president as he attended the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at a Washington hotel on April 25. Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, recently pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to kill Trump. Allen is accused of running through a security checkpoint inside the hotel and firing a shotgun at a Secret Service officer.
Following that scare, Secret Service officers shot a suspect they said had fired at officers near the Washington Monument, several blocks from the White House. Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, was charged in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in connection with the May 4 shooting. A teenage bystander was wounded in that incident. AP
