Colt Gray, portrait of a teenage Georgia school shooter

What drives a young person to kill? Experts have been asking this question for decades now as more and more cases continue to occur in the United States.

AP News reports that on September 4, four people, two students and two teachers, have been killed at a shooting in a Georgia high school. Nine others were reported to be injured at the time, but not with life-threatening wounds.

The tragic scene took place in Apalachee High School in the town of Winder, Barrow County, described as a rapidly suburbanizing area just outside Atlanta’s metropolitan sprawl.

Image: Venti / Unsplash

Two officers on the campus arrested 14-year-old Apalachee High School student Colt Gray for the crime.

The BBC describes that Gray immediately surrendered and officers took him into custody. To date, no motives or specific targets have been identified.

AP News highlights that the shooter used an assault-style rifle, and that Gray was to be charged as an adult.

According to the BBC, the FBI investigated Gray in 2023 due to anonymous tips involving online threats about committing a school shooting.

Local authorities visited the Gray residence involving these online threats. Colt Gray’s father stated that while he had hunting guns at home, his son had no unsupervised access to them.

Gray, who was 13 years at the time, denied making the online threats. FBI agents did not have enough evidence to arrest him at the time and instead alerted school authorities to continue monitoring him.

Local authorities are trying to figure out how Gray obtained the weapon he used in the rampage and if he had any accomplices.

BBC highlights that Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris labelled the incident as a “senseless tragedy” during a New Hampshire rally.

Meanwhile, former US President and current Republican candidate Donald Trump went on social media platform Truth Social to post the following: “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster”.

According to CBS News, the Apalachee High School shooting was the 218th school shooting registered in the United States in 2024. Will it be the last?

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