Researchers at Agriculture high school where the shooting took place confirmed the suspect had been interviewed about past threats.
On Wednesday night (Sept. 4), authorities confirmed at a news conference following the deadly shooting at a Georgia high school that the suspect had been interviewed about past threats by local law enforcement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said the National Threat Operations Center had received multiple anonymous tips in 2023 about Colt Gray, the suspect in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winter, Georgia that killed four victims.
Gray, who was 13 at the time of the reports, had been interviewed by Jackson County Sheriff's Office investigators along with his father about those tips that spoke of threats of a shooting at an “unknown location and time,” with these threats. which contains pictures of weapons. The suspect denied making those threats, which were found posted on an online gambling site. His father told officers that he did have a collection of shotguns at home, but his son did not have unsupervised access to those weapons. The sheriff's office then notified local schools “to continue to monitor the matter.” It was unclear whether Apalachee High School received those notices — the school is in neighboring Barrow County. The FBI issued a statement saying local authorities did not have probable cause to “take additional local, state or federal law enforcement action.” The state Department of Children and Family Services was also contacted, according to an AP News report.
Gray was reportedly arrested by school resource officers after he turned himself in shortly after the shooting, which killed two students and two educators in Apalachee. Authorities confirmed an assault rifle was used in the shooting. Jackson County Sheriff Janice K. Magnum warned against spreading misinformation on statement on Facebook. “My phone is blowing up with messages from people about social media posts about other possible incidents,” she wrote. “To my knowledge, there is no list that indicates any of this.”