Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said upon arriving at Apalachee High School yesterday, what he found “was carnage.”
“There was blood everywhere. You smell the gunpowder. A lot of screaming, yelling, little bit of chaos.”
There were two school resource officers stationed at the school, as well as a sergeant who happened to be there, who immediately responded to the suspect. Smith said he “could not be prouder” of those officers, EMS, the fire department, as well as the “hero” teachers who lost their lives protecting students.
Speaking on first responders, he said: “They backed up the building, loaded kids up, tourniqueting folks, and those nine people that were injured are living today, and they expect to live,” he said. Most of the injured have been released from the hospital and two or three require more recovery time.
“Our heart breaks and goes out to the families of the four victims that were killed and murdered. That’s what this is — a murder. But we’re glad that we were able to prevent more,” he said
He noted that the sheriff’s office had done an active school shooter drill last school year at a local middle school.
“Emotionally, it’s hard because I feel like this, that Colt Gray moved here, he took advantage of the system and thought that he could get away with it and didn’t,” Smith said of the 14-year-old shooting suspect, who was new to the school.
Calling the teen “an evil person,” the sheriff added: “But like I said, love is going to prevail over what happened, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that happens.”