Apalachee High School shooting: FBI questioned boy accused of school massacre in 2023

A 14-year-old student who allegedly opened fire at a Georgia high school, killing four people, was interviewed by the FBI 16 months ago.

Wednesday’s shooting sent students scrambling for shelter in their classrooms — and eventually to the football stadium — as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe.

The accused shooter, who has been charged as an adult with murder, remains in custody, had previously been interviewed by the FBI 16 months ago, it also emerged.

The dead were identified as two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta.

Killed were two other 14-year-olds, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and instructors Richard Aspenwall and Christina Irimie, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said in a news conference.

At least nine other people — eight students and one teacher — were taken to hospitals with injuries. All were expected to survive, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.

The words “hard lockdown” appeared on a screen in junior Layla Ferrell’s health class and lights began flashing.

She and her frightened classmates piled desks and chairs in front of the door to create a barricade, she recalled.

Student Kaylee Abner was in geometry class when she heard the gunshots.

She and her classmates ducked behind their teacher’s desk, and then the teacher began flipping the desk in an attempt to barricade the classroom door, Abner said. A classmate beside her was praying, and she held his hand while they all waited for police.

After students poured into the football stadium, Abner saw teachers who had taken off their shirts to help treat gunshot wounds.

Two school resource officers encountered the shooter within minutes after a report of shots fired went out, Mr Hosey said. The suspect, a student at the school, immediately surrendered and was taken into custody. He is being charged as an adult with murder. Authorities said the weapon was an assault-style rifle.

The teen had previously been interviewed after the FBI received anonymous tips in May 2023 about online threats to commit an unspecified school shooting, the agency said in a statement.

The FBI narrowed the threats down and referred the case to the sheriff’s department in Jackson County, which is adjacent to Barrow County.

The sheriff’s office interviewed the then-13-year-old and his father, who said there were hunting guns in the house but the teen did not have unsupervised access to them. The teen also denied making online threats.

The sheriff’s office alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the teen, but there was no probable cause for arrest to additional action, the FBI said.

Mr Hosey said the State Division of Family and Children’s Services also had previous contact with the teen and will investigate whether that had any connection with the shooting.

Authorities were still looking into how the suspect obtained the gun used in the shooting and got it into the school in Barrow County, located 80km north of Atlanta.

Sheriff Smith choked up as he began to speak during the briefing. He said he was born and raised in the community and his kids are in the school system.

“My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community,” he said

US President Joe Biden issued a statement saying: “We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”

Jacob King, a sophomore football player, said he had dozed off in his world history class after a morning practice when he was woken by the sound of around 10 gunshots.

Mr King said he did not believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yelling at someone to put down their gun.

Mr King said when his class was led out, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be an injured student.

Ashley Enoh was at home on Wednesday morning when she got a text from her brother, who is a senior at Apalachee High.

“Just so you know, I love you,” he texted her.

When she asked in the family group chat what was going on, he said there was a shooter at the school.

Ms Enoh’s younger sister, a junior at the school, said she had heard about the shooter and that everything was on lockdown.

When Erin Clark, 42, received a text from her son Ethan, a senior at the high school, that there was an active shooter, she rushed from her job at the Amazon warehouse to the school.

The two texted “I love you,” and Ms Clark said she prayed for her son as she drove to the high school.

With the main road to the school blocked, Ms Clark parked and ran with other parents.

Parents were then directed to a football field.

Amid the chaos, Ms Clark found Ethan sitting on the bleachers.

Ms Clark said her son was writing an essay in class when he first heard the gunshots.

Her son then worked with his classmates to barricade the door and hide.

“I’m so proud of him for doing that,” she said. “He was so brave.”

Students had only started the school year a little over a month ago before the shooting on Wednesday.

“It makes me scared to send him back,” she said.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Traffic going to the school was backed up for more than a kilometre as parents tried to get to their children.

Apalachee High School has about 1900 students, according to records from Georgia education officials.

It became Barrow County’s second-largest public high school when it opened in 2000, according to the Barrow County School System.

- with AP and Reuters