New details emerge about 14-year-old suspect and victims in deadliest school shooting this year

Just weeks into the new school year, classrooms and hallways turned into scenes of carnage and horror as a mass shooter killed four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.

Wednesday's mass shooting is the 45th school shooting this year and the deadliest U.S. school shooting since the March 2023 massacre at Covenant School in Nashville, which left six people dead.

In Georgia, the suspect is a 14-year-old student accused of killing two students and two teachers with an AR-style weapon. Nine other people were hospitalized.

Live updates: The latest on the Georgia high school shooting

As another community mourns a senseless school shooting, investigators are revealing more details about the case. Here's what we know:

How the devastation unfolded

The suspect left his Algebra 1 class around 9:45 a.m., classmate Lyela Sayarath told CNN. The classroom doors lock automatically, and toward the end of class, the suspect knocked on the door to try to get back in, Lyela said.

Another student went to answer the door but apparently saw the gun and refused to let him in, Lyela said. That diversion may have saved his life.

“I think he wanted to come to our house first,” Lyela said.

Instead, the shooter turned toward a nearby classroom and opened fire, “and you hear about 10 to 15 shots in a row,” Lyela said.

The first report of an active shooter came in around 10:20 a.m. Two school resource officers and other law enforcement quickly arrived, Georgia Bureau of Investigations Director Chris Hosey said.

One of the school resource officers confronted the shooter, who surrendered and was taken into custody, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.

The suspect, Colt Gray, is being held Thursday at the Gainesville Area Youth Detention Center, the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice told CNN. He will make his first court appearance Friday, department spokesman Glenn Allen said.

Beloved teachers and students were killed

Two 14-year-old students, Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, went to school and never came home.

The shooter also killed Christina Irimie, a 53-year-old math teacher, and Richard Aspinwall, a 39-year-old math teacher and assistant football coach.

“We are truly heartbroken,” Lisette Angulo, Christian’s older sister, wrote on a GoFundMe page to support the family. “He was a very good kid, very kind and very caring. He was so loved by so many.”

Another verified GoFundMe page has been created to help the family of Aspinwall, a beloved football coach.

“To our beloved defensive coordinator Ricky Aspinwall, we will carry you heavy in our hearts. We love you Coach A!!!” Apalachee Football posted on X on Thursday.

Apalachee's home football game scheduled for Friday has been canceled, the team's opponent announced on Facebook.

In addition to the dead, nine people were injured and hospitalized, authorities said.

Those patients are expected to recover and “we do not anticipate any further deaths at this point,” Smith said Wednesday night.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooter knew or specifically targeted his victims, the sheriff said.

The staff alerted the police using their ID cards

The school’s teachers and staff are “heroes in the actions they took,” Hosey said. “The protocols in this school and this system that were activated today prevented this tragedy from being much worse than what we experienced.”

One of those protocols included a security measure adopted just a week ago.

“All of our teachers are equipped with some type of identifier called Centegix,” Smith said Wednesday night. Centegix alerts law enforcement “after identifier buttons are pushed and alerts us that there is an active situation at the school for whatever reason and that is the button that was pushed.”

Centegix's website says the tool features “dynamic digital mapping, real-time location capabilities, an easy-to-use portable panic button for school and district staff, a school visitor management system, and secure meeting capabilities that allow educators to plan and respond more quickly to emergencies.”

Several states, including Georgia, have introduced legislation on panic alarm systems, CNN reported.

Teenage suspect had AR-style weapon, authorities say

Gray, the 14-year-old suspect, is in custody and is expected to be tried as an adult, the GBI and the Barrow County sheriff's office said.

The weapon used in the shooting was an AR-15-style rifle, Hosey said Wednesday night. A law enforcement official previously told CNN it was an AR-15-style rifle.

Authorities have not provided any information about how the gun and ammunition were obtained. But investigators have spoken to the suspect and made contact with his family, Smith said.

It is also unclear when and how the suspect brought the rifle to the school.

“We're still trying to sort out a lot of the timeline from when he arrived at school (Wednesday) to the incident,” Hosey said.

The suspect has already been questioned by the authorities

Gray was questioned by law enforcement last year about “anonymous tips regarding online threats to commit a school shooting,” and the online threats included photos of firearms, according to a joint statement from the Atlanta FBI and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.

But Gray denied making the threats online, the agencies said.

“The father stated that he had hunting weapons in the home, but that the suspect did not have unsupervised access to them,” the agencies said. At the time, “there was no reasonable basis for arresting the suspect or for any additional action by local, state or federal law enforcement.”

Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum released more details about the case hours after Wednesday's shooting.

“The FBI confirmed that it received an anonymous tip in May 2023 regarding threats posted on an online gambling site,” Mangum said on Facebook. “Within 24 hours, the FBI determined that the post originated from Georgia and the FBI field agent forwarded the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division for action.”

The sheriff's office located and interviewed a 13-year-old boy and his father shortly afterward, Mangum wrote.

“The 13-year-old denied making these threats online,” the sheriff wrote. “A thorough investigation was conducted. During the course of that investigation, the threats made against the gaming site could not be substantiated. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office has alerted local schools to continue monitoring the matter.”

Questions arise about pre-school threat

Before the mass shooting, Apalachee High School had received a threatening phone call earlier in the morning, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN.

The phone call warned that shootings were coming to five schools, the first of which would be in Apalachee. But it's unclear who made the call.

Investigators have found no evidence that other schools were targeted, but they are pursuing “any leads regarding possible associates of the shooter involved in this incident,” Hosey said.

“I really don't want to go back there”

Barrow County schools will be closed for the remainder of this week as the district's 15,000 students cope with the tragedy that occurred just one month into the school year.

Some Apalachee High School students say they're worried about returning to class.

“I want to go to school worrying about what my GPA is going to be at the end of the year and worrying about my career,” said Macey Right, 14.

“I really don't want to go back. I feel like I shouldn't go back to school being afraid of dying.”

CNN's Isabel Rosales, John Miller, Nick Valencia, Rebekah Riess, David Williams, Dakin Andone, Sharif Paget, Melissa Alonso, Andy Rose, Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury, Tori B. Powell, Sara Smart and Nouran Salahieh contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com