A student survivor of the shooting at Apalachee High School has told how she will never feel safe returning to the scene of the massacre.
Ariel Bowling opened up to the Today Show about her feelings in the aftermath of Wednesday’s blood bath.
‘I just feel like you’re basically never safe anywhere … No matter if there’s cops in the school, there’s still no safety at all,’ she said.
Her mom Tabitha added that her daughter had told her she would never go back to the school, describing the situation as ‘traumatic’.
Bowling was among those who were evacuated from the premises shortly after suspected gunman Colt Gray, 14, opened fire killing four people.
Ariel Bowling, pictured with her mom Tabitha, explained how she has been left feeling unsafe after surviving the Apalachee High School shooting
Students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14 and teachers Christina Irimie, 53, and Richard Aspinwall, 39, were named as the victims.
Bowling was Aspinwall’s math student and remembered him as a ‘kind-hearted man’ who had ‘the most kindest soul ever.’
She said she was on her way to the vending machine when the chaos erupted.
‘We heard shots fired and we ran back into the room, we just all piled up on top of each other in the corner,’ Bowling said.
The teen called her mother amid the rampage, but disconnected to try and call the authorities.
‘I heard five gunshots and then the phone went dead. I didn’t know if she was hurt. She was calling 911, I was very scared,’ the mom explained.
The massacre in Winder, Georgia claimed the lives of four people and injured almost a dozen others. Pictured: A mother and her children bow their heads in prayer at a vigil for the victims
After being given the all clear, Bowling described the devastating scene as she was led out of the building.
‘I saw a deceased body on the floor but it was like covered up and I saw a female with a shot wound to her leg, it was just a really traumatic experience,’ she said.
Nine victims were taken to hospitals with gunshot injuries, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The shooting was reported at 10.23am – and Gray surrendered to police when he was apprehended.
He has been charged with murder and is due to make his first court appearance on Friday.
Authorities said an AR-style weapon was used in the deadly shooting and they are examining how it came to be in the gunman’s possession.
Mason Schermerhorn, 14, an autistic student at Apalachee High School, was the first victim to be identified. He was among four people killed in the mass shooting
Teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall lost their lives in the tragedy
Student Christian Angulo, 14, was also shot dead in the senseless shooting
Questions also remain over how he was able to walk onto the campus while armed.
It has since emerged that Colt was known to the FBI for at least a year and had previously been interviewed over threats made towards the school.
However, when investigators spoke to the teen and his dad, they were assured he was not left unsupervised around his father’s hunting guns and was not responsible for threats.
They found no probable cause for and arrest and did not seize any weapons, instead advising local schools to remain on alert.
Gray’s family has since issued a chilling threat to go ‘full throttle’ amid the news that he is being charged as an adult.
The teenager’s aunt, Annie Polhamus Brown, took to Facebook during the aftermath, bringing up the issues he ‘dealt with’ and saying she ‘will take care of my nephew and what he needs on this side.’