The 14-year-old boy suspected of killing two teachers and two students in a school shooting in the US state of Georgia had previously been interviewed by the FBI.
The attack on Wednesday left four dead at Apalachee High School in Winder and nine people were taken to hospital with injuries, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation posted on X.
Authorities named the suspect as Colt Gray, a student who the FBI interviewed last year after receiving several anonymous tips that threats had been posted on an online game site warning of a school shooting at “an unidentified location and time”.
The threats, which included photographs of guns, prompted authorities to visit Gray’s house, where his father told investigators that he owned hunting guns, but that his son did not have unsupervised access to the weapons. The suspect denied making any threats.
Jackson County authorities alerted local schools “for continued monitoring of the subject” after the threats were made, though it is unclear whether this included Apalachee High School, where the suspect was a student.
Authorities have identified two 14-year-old students and two teachers as the victims of the attack, including Mason Schermerhorn, who had autism, according to his family. The other victims included student Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irmie, 53.
The shooter opened fire at the school at around 10.30am on Wednesday just weeks after classes began in the US. It is believed to be the first “planned” shooting of the school year so far, according to David Riedman, who runs the K-12 School Shooting Database.
“What we see behind us is an evil thing today,” Sheriff Jud Smith of Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said during a brief news conference on school grounds.
Students were released at noon once the incident was deemed under control, a Barrow County Schools spokesman said.
One student who was released after the incident unharmed revealed how she sat next to the suspect in class just minutes before starting his shooting spree.
Lyela Sayarath said the 14-year-old showed no signs that he would carry out the shooting as the pair sat together in algebra and that when he left, she just assumed he was skipping class again.
“He never really talked, he wasn’t (in school) most times, he would just skip class,” she told CNN. “Even when he would have talked, it was one word answers.”
The suspect reportedly excused himself from class around 30 minutes before active shooter alerts sounded and students were told to check their emails.
Gray then reappeared at the classroom door. Unaware of the danger he now posed, one student went to open the door to let Gray in before jumping backwards after seeing a gun.
“I guess he saw we weren’t going to let him in. And I guess the classroom next to me, their door was open so I think he just started shooting in the classroom,” she said.
A text exchange between a student and their parent highlighted the panic at the school as local TV stations broadcast images of parents lining up in cars on a road outside, hoping to be reunited with their children.
The school, which had an enrolment of nearly 1,900 last year, began classes on Aug 1.
Sheriff Smith said the first call that law enforcement received about the shooting came at about 9.30am, which would have been about an hour after classes had started for the day.
CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported that the school had received a phone call warning of the shooting before it took place.
The school district said that it had no comment on whether such a call was received.
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ABC News quoted a witness, student Sergio Caldera, as saying that he was in chemistry class when he heard gunshots.
The student, 17, told ABC that his teacher opened the door and another teacher ran in to tell her to shut the door “because there’s an active shooter”.
As students and teachers huddled in the classroom, someone pounded on the door and shouted several times for it to be opened.
When the knocking stopped, Sergio heard more gunshots and screams. He said that his class later evacuated to the school’s football field.
Live aerial TV images showed several ambulances outside the high school.
CNN said it witnessed a patient being loaded into a medical helicopter that had landed at the school.
“Multiple law enforcement agencies and fire/EMS personnel were dispatched to the high school in reference to a reported active shooting,” the sheriff’s office said.
The FBI field office in Atlanta dispatched agents to the high school to support local law enforcement, said Jenna Sellitto, a spokesman for the office.
The agency later issued a statement revealing that it had investigated online threats to commit a school shooting in 2023 and interviewed a 13-year-old subject and his father in nearby Jackson County.
“The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them. The subject denied making the threats online. Jackson County alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject,” the FBI said, adding that there was no probable cause to make an arrest.
Schermerhorn, one of the students killed in Wednesday’s attack, had only recently started at the school, according to family friends. He was described as “lighthearted” and enjoyed reading, playing video games and visiting Disney World.
“He really enjoyed life,” Doug Kilburn told the New York Times. “He always had an upbeat attitude about everything.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Angulo, the second student who was killed in the attack. A tribute posted by his sister described him as a “very good kid” who was “very sweet and so caring”.
“He was so loved by many. His loss was so sudden and unexpected,” she said. “We are truly heartbroken. He really didn’t deserve this.”
At the high school, Ms Irimie and Mr Aspinwall were both maths teachers. Mr Aspinwall was also the football team’s defensive coordinator.
The White House said in a statement that Joe Biden, the US president, had been briefed on the shooting “and his administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information”.
People in Winder, which is about 50 miles (80km) northeast of Atlanta, gathered in a park for a prayer vigil on Wednesday night.
Some leaned on each other or bowed their heads in prayer, while others lit candles.
“We are all hurting. Because when something affects one of us it affects us all,” said Power Evans, a city councilman who addressed the gathering.
“I know that here tonight, all of us are going to come together. We’re going to love on one another… We’re all family. We’re all neighbours.”
In a statement, Mr Biden said: “Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed.”
He called on Republicans to work with Democrats to pass “common-sense gun safety legislation”.
Kamala Harris, the vice-president and the Democratic nominee for president, called the shooting a “senseless tragedy”.
At the start of a campaign event in New Hampshire, Ms Harris said: “We’ve gotta stop it. We have to end this epidemic of gun violence.”
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Donald Trump, the former president and the Republican nominee for president in this year’s election, wrote on social media: “Our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, GA. These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
The US has seen hundreds of shootings inside schools and colleges in the past two decades, with the deadliest resulting in more than 30 deaths at Virginia Tech in 2007.
It has intensified the pitched debate over gun laws and the US Constitution’s Second Amendment, which enshrines the right “to keep and bear arms”.
