Families of Georgia students have spoken of the terrifying wait for updates on their children following a school shooting that left four dead.
Colt Gray, 14, opened fire at Apalachee High School on Wednesday, injuring at least 13 people as frenzied scenes gripped the school in what officially became the deadliest incident of its kind in Georgia history.
When news of the shooting broke, parents and family members of students at the school were desperate for information about the safety and well-being of their children.
A father, William Hartman, revealed that he received a call from his 17-year-old son who informed his parents that the incident was being filmed live on Facebook.
“I don’t know how to explain the feelings, the fear,” the father said.
The father of Apalachee High School student William Hartman revealed that he received a call from his 17-year-old son who informed him that the shooting incident was being filmed live on Facebook.
Grandparents Michelle and J Watson said they waited 45 minutes for an update on their grandson, a student at the school.
Colt Gray’s alleged murder weapon can be seen in the hallway of Apalachee High School, where he allegedly killed four people and injured nine.
‘I have two children who go to Hayman Morris (high school) which borders the school and the first thing I did was immediately call the schools.
“Then text messages and things like that started coming in from schools. Terror. Absolute terror.”
The grandparents of an Apalachee High School student, Michelle and J Watson, spoke of how they endured a painful 45-minute wait before hearing from their grandson.
“It’s very sad. It’s very sad…” You know, it took us a while to realize that she wasn’t one of the victims. I mean, for 45 minutes… An hour…’, they recalled.
“An hour before they told us he was okay, it was very scary. It’s the last thing you expect to happen in the heat here,” they added.
Speaking to the BBC this morning, several surviving students recalled the shock they felt during that terrifying morning.
“I saw a child with a gun,” said one young student.
“We heard gunshots, the teacher ran, slammed the door, made us all go to the corner,” another recalled.
A third parent revealed: “My son called me while it was happening inside the classroom.”
Authorities have said Gray’s shooting spree ended minutes after he began shooting at about 10:23 a.m. before taking the lives of his four victims: teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14.
He immediately surrendered when confronted by police and “gave up and threw himself to the ground,” they added.
Student Christian Angulo, 14, was also shot and killed in the senseless shooting.
Teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall lost their lives in the tragedy.
Mason Schermerhorn, 14, an autistic student at Apalachee High School, was the first victim to be identified. He was among four people killed in the mass shooting.
It is unclear how the 14-year-old gunman obtained the weapon used in the attack; police reportedly raided his family home in the hours after the shooting.
Authorities say they are still investigating how Gray was able to bring an AR-style weapon inside his school, and footage of the aftermath appears to show the gun on the ground as terrified students were escorted through the hallways to safety.
Following his arrest, Gray will be charged with murder and tried as an adult, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Images from the scene showed students pouring out onto campus as terrified parents ran to find their children, with one mother describing the scene outside the school as pure “chaos”.
Lyela Sayerath, a junior at the school, said she was sitting next to Colt Gray in algebra class just minutes before the shooting began.
She told CNN that Colt left the classroom at the start of his class at 9:45 a.m., about a half-hour before active shooter alerts sounded.
Gray did not ask permission to go to the bathroom, she said, leading her to initially think he was simply skipping class, before an announcement over the loudspeaker told teachers to check their emails.
Shortly afterward, Sayerath said, Gray returned outside his classroom and a student stood up to open the door for him before jumping back upon seeing his gun.
“I guess he saw that we weren’t going to let him in. And I guess the door to the classroom next door was open, so I think he started shooting in the classroom,” he said.
Students and residents commemorate those who lost their lives by lighting candles near the scene of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School on Sept. 4.
Law enforcement officers take action at the scene of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia
Apalachee High School junior Lyela Sayarath said she was sitting next to 14-year-old shooter Colt Gray in algebra class moments before he opened fire.
Sayerath said Gray proceeded to fire a series of bullets “one after the other,” adding, “When we heard it, most of the people just fell to the ground and crawled around in an area piled on top of each other.”
Sayerath said his friend was in the classroom next door and witnessed someone being shot, which left him “shocked.” “He saw that someone had been shot. There was blood on him. He was kind of limping. He looked horrified,” he added.
Describing her classmate, Sayarath said Gray “never really talked, most of the time he wasn’t (in school), he just skipped classes… Even when he did talk, he would respond with one word.”
Sayarath said he was “not surprised” when Gray was identified as the shooter, saying that “when you think about shooters and the way they act, it’s usually the quiet guy and he was the one that fit that description.”
But the gunman’s relatives came to his defence in a move that sparked a backlash online and within the local community.
The teen’s aunt, Annie Polhamus Brown, took to Facebook after the incident to mention the problems she “faced” and say she will “take care of my nephew and whatever he needs on this side.”
“Just check yourselves before you talk about a kid who never asked to deal with the shit he saw on a daily basis,” she said in the posts, which have now been deleted.
“Is everyone ready to see Polhamus’ blood at full speed? No, I wouldn’t either.”
Polhamus Brown said he had done “everything I could to fight for my nephew” while criticising people for “placing blame”.
He also had some words for the victims of the shooting, saying “the families affected by my nephew’s actions deserve all the attention now.”
“I’m not going to disrespect other parents and families who are going through this tragedy from the other side. THEY DID NOT DESERVE THIS,” she wrote.
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