The victims, including two students and two teachers, were identified as Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53.
Colt Gray, 14, a student at the school, was arrested and charged with murder. Authorities confirmed that Gray will be tried as an adult.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Gray used an AR-style rifle, and investigations are ongoing to determine how the weapon was obtained and brought into the school.
GBI Director Chris Hosey reported that nine others, including eight students and one teacher, were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries. The shooting prompted a lockdown across schools in Barrow County as a precautionary measure.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith condemned the incident as an act of evil, stressing the gravity of the situation during a news conference. “What you see behind us is an evil thing,” Smith remarked.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden extended their condolences and urged immediate action on gun control legislation. Biden emphasized that gun violence should not be normalized, saying, “Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write.”
The massacre marks the 604th mass killing in the U.S. since 2006, according to a database compiled by USA Today, the Associated Press, and Northeastern University. It is also the first school mass killing this fall, following a sharp rise in school shootings in the previous academic year.
Gray had been on law enforcement’s radar after the FBI received anonymous tips in May 2023 about online threats involving a school shooting. Though Gray and his father were interviewed at the time, no probable cause for arrest was found.
In the wake of the tragedy, all Barrow County schools will remain closed for the rest of the week, and crisis counseling will be provided to students. Apalachee High, one of two high schools in the district, serves about 1,900 students in Winder, a rural town near Athens, Georgia.
State and federal officials, including Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Vice President Kamala Harris, have called for prayers and support for the victims.
Harris, speaking at a campaign rally, decried the ongoing gun violence epidemic and stressed the need for urgent reform.
Former President Donald Trump also expressed his condolences, describing the shooter as a “sick and deranged monster.”
The community continues to grapple with the devastating loss, while officials promise to investigate and offer necessary resources for recovery.