Georgia HS Students Texted Parents Last Words As Shooter Colt Gray Killed 4

Julie Sandoval described hearing five gunshots next to her. She hid in a corner with several other classmates until police burst through the door.
“I started shaking a lot and that’s when I started crying as well. I was trying to text a lot of my friends but unfortunately, everything was down,” Sandoval told CNN.
She said she texted her parents to tell them she loves them. She was also worried about her sister, who is also a student at the school.
Sandoval is one of the many students at Apalachee High School in Georgia sharing their harrowing experiences as a 14-year-old student opened fire in the building, killing two students and two teachers on Wednesday.
The shooter Colt Gray is in police custody, where he has been interviewed by officials. He is expected to be charged with murder and tried as an adult.
Lyela Sayarath, a student who was in Algebra class, was sitting right next to Gray when he asked to leave the classroom. He returned with a gun.
“I just remember the moment that it happened. He was at the door and they almost let him in,” Sayarath told CNN.
She described Gray as quiet and shy, typically only speaking in one-word responses and often skipping class. She said nothing seemed particularly different about Gray on Wednesday morning.
“It didn’t feel real,” Sayarath said. “I stayed pretty calm. I never cried or panicked.”
Laila Fohrman said she thought she “was going to die.”
“I prayed and I closed my eyes and tried to stay calm,” Fohrman said.
Janice Martinez initially thought someone was “playing around” in the hallways.
“When this happened, I entered the class and then we were there for like, second period. So it was like during the middle of it, and I heard screaming and everything,” Martinez said.
She said she realized something was wrong as the noise kept getting louder.
“I was like, ‘No, no, guys.’ Like, I told everybody to get down. Get down, because, like, you don’t joke around with that,” Martinez said.
Sophomore football player Jacob King told the Associated Press he had dozed off in his world history class after a morning practice when he heard the gunfire.
King said he didn’t believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yelling at someone to put down their gun. When his class was led out, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be an injured student.
Ashley Enoh was at home in the morning when she got a text from her brother, a senior at Apalachee High: “Just so you know, I love you.”
When Erin Clark, 42, received a text from her son Ethan, a senior, saying there was an active shooter, she rushed from her job at the Amazon warehouse to the school. The two texted “I love you,” and Clark said she prayed for her him as she drove.
With the main road to the school blocked, she parked and ran with other parents. They were directed to the football field, and amid the chaos, Clark found Ethan sitting on the bleachers.
Students are attending a vigil Wednesday to mourn the loss of their classmates and teachers.
The shooting was first reported at 9:30 a.m. The sheriff’s office received an alert of reports of an active shooter at 10:20 a.m.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said law enforcement and school officials are working on reuniting students with their parents.
GBI director Chris Hosey said law enforcement was at the scene “within minutes.” Two school resource officers assigned to the high school responded as well.
“Law enforcement had a very, very swift response to this incident,” Hosey said.
Officers located the suspect “immediately,” Hosey said. The suspect then surrendered to law enforcement.
“Law enforcement had a very, very swift response to this incident,” Hosey said.
Smith called the shooting an “evil thing” and said the investigation is “active and ever-developing.”
Gray was interviewed by investigators after being taken into custody, Smith said.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation by Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall. He later released a statement on the incident.
“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,” Biden said. “What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart. Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”
The administration said it is coordinating with federal, state and local officials.
Before delivering her planned speech at a rally in Portsmouth, where the Democratic presidential nominee intended to outline her small business proposals, Kamala Harris took a moment to reflect on the shooting that left four dead and nine injured.
“It is just outrageous that every day in the United States of America, parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” Harris said.
She then recounted a personal experience from earlier this year, when she toured a school and spoke with students. Harris recalled asking how many of them had participated in active shooter drills. To her dismay, nearly every student raised their hand.
“They are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential, yet some part of their big, beautiful minds is worried about a shooter breaking through the door,” Harris said. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform, former President Trump wrote, “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.”
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