An outpouring of grief and heartbreaking portraits washed over Winder on Thursday as hints remained elusive about what may have prompted a 14-year-old boy to allegedly open fire inside Apalachee High School, killing four people and injuring nine others.
In the wake of authorities identifying ninth-grader Colt Gray as a suspect in Wednesday’s killings, many in the close-knit Barrow County community of 92,792 struggled to fathom the violence that erupted at one of their own schools — and the shattering loss that has ensued.
The victims included Apalachee students Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14, and teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. All were shot to death. Schools countywide closed for the week, and it was unclear if they would reopen Monday.
The school’s head football coach, Mike Hancock, said he will never forget Aspinwall’s postgame ritual. Aspinwall, a math teacher, was also an assistant coach for the Wildcats. No matter the final score, Aspinwall, standing in the back of an end zone, never failed to embrace his two little girls with “daddy hugs.”
“That smile of him walking over to get the hugs … that’s where I’m heartbroken,” Hancock said.
Apalachee’s home game set for Friday against Monroe Area has been canceled. As of Thursday morning, Hancock had yet to console his team in person.
“I want to get them in a room,” he said, “and tell them, ‘Yes this is going to be hard, but we’re going to do this together.’”
At a makeshift memorial in Jug Tavern Park, where flower bouquets were left by mourners, Cecil Odoury stood with her 10-year-old son and said a prayer for “the departed souls.”
She envisioned her children being safe when their family moved to the United States years ago from Kenya.
“But now my heart is in pain,” Odoury said. “I can’t sleep. I’m traumatized thinking about my kids are (at) risk going to school.”
Glimpses into Gray’s background and home life came to light in documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting, threats that they traced to Gray.
The FBI passed the 2023 alert to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, who sent a deputy and an investigator to Gray’s home in Jefferson to interview him. Gray, who was 13 at the time, was there with his father, Colin Gray, when the officers spoke to them. The teen denied making the threat.
“Colt expressed concern that someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” sheriff’s investigator Daniel Miller Jr. wrote in his report.
The matter was closed a couple of days later.
Late Wednesday, an FBI statement noted that Gray’s “father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them.”
With the information investigators had at the time, there was no legal basis to pursue any charges, the FBI said. But the Jackson sheriff’s office alerted local schools, and Gray was monitored, the FBI added. What resulted from that monitoring has not been disclosed.
Gray, whom officials have said will be charged as an adult with four counts of felony murder, is scheduled to make his first appearance in Barrow County Superior Court on Friday. The 8:30 a.m. hearing will be conducted via videoconference.
Gray was being held in the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice spokesperson Glenn Allen confirmed.
Additional charges were expected, the GBI said. The agency also is handling the victims’ autopsies.
“This is day two of a very complex investigation, and the integrity of the case is paramount,” the GBI said in a statement. “We ask for the public’s patience as we work to ensure a successful prosecution and justice for the victims.”
About 6 miles from the school, a sign outside Ann’s Flower & Gift Shop in Winder bore the messages “Love will prevail” and “Barrow Strong.”
Speaking through tears, Paige Stinchcomb, who runs the shop and who didn’t know any of the victims, said she had to do something to honor them. She is selling bows in Apalachee school colors, navy and gold. Proceeds will go to victims’ families.
“Even if I didn’t know any people that were affected,” Stinchcomb said, “it has affected the whole community.”
No one answered the door Thursday at Gray’s house, which also lies about 6 miles from Apalachee High. A pickup truck sat parked in an open garage. A Christmas wreath still hung on the front door. There were no signs of law enforcement officers or police tape, nothing to indicate the property had been searched by the FBI the day before. A sheriff’s patrol car cruised by mid-morning.
Court records show that Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, has a criminal record spanning more than 17 years. The 43-year-old has faced prosecution in Barrow, Fulton and Forsyth counties, accused of domestic violence, drug possession, property damage and traffic violations.
She has also faced civil fraud claims related to a vehicle purchase and was in jail in South Georgia’s Ben Hill County as recently as April, according to publicly available court filings.
Ben Hill Sheriff Lee Cone told the Journal-Constitution by phone on Thursday that authorities investigating the Winder school shooting had contacted his office not long after reports of Wednesday’s shootings emerged.
Cone said it was his understanding that Gray’s mother was, by then herself aware of the reports, traveling to the Winder area.
Speaking of Gray’s maternal grandparents, who also reside in the Fitzgerald area, the sheriff said, “They’re a good family. They’ve just always been real big in the community.”
Back in Barrow County, Denise Harris, a member of Truth Church in nearby Loganville, visited Apalachee High on Thursday to pray.
Several Apalachee students are in her church’s youth group. Some told her they had trouble sleeping Wednesday night.
“They need to know that they aren’t alone,” Harris said. “They have a community rallied behind them.”
Staff writers Lexi Baker, Martha Dalton, Katherine Landergan, Thad Moore and Fletcher Page contributed to this report.
