Apalachee High School shooters aunt's chilling 'will not back down' Facebook post
By Chiara Fiorillo & John O'sullivan,
2024-09-05
The aunt of Georgia school shooter Colt Gray shared some chilling posts on Facebook after the 14-year-old, who allegedly killed four people including two students and two teachers, was charged as an adult.
She had written: "I will NOT disrespect other parents and families that are dealing with this tragedy on the opposite end. They DID NOT DESERVE THIS! ! ! ! I WILL NOT do anything but humbly support the families involved in this incident that did not ask to be participants! ! ! !
"With that said, I WILL NOT leave my nephew standing alone! ! ! ! When Uvalde happened, I told my own children that 'only hurt people hurt people.'" She added: "Just check yourself before you speak about a child that never asked to deal with the bull**** he saw on a daily basis."
The social media posts sparked outrage online as tributes poured in for the four victims of the shooting - 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, 39-year-old teacher Richard Aspinwall, and Christina Irimie, 53, another teacher. Their names were announced on Wednesday at a 9 pm press conference by Chris Hosey, Georgia Bureau of Investigation director.
The two faculty members, Aspinwall and Irimie, were listed as maths teachers on the school's website, which also says Aspinwall was the defensive coordinator of the school's American football team. Nine others were injured and taken to hospital, but they have now been released, according to Fox 5.
Gray had been on the FBI's radar for over a year before Wednesday's mass shooting. He had been interviewed, alongside his father, a year ago regarding threatening social media posts the teenager had made, the FBI said.
They added the suspect, who was 13 years old at the time, denied making the online threats and officials "alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject."
The suspect was described by his classmates as a quiet individual who often responded with "one-word answers" and regularly missed school. Lyela Sayarath, a junior at Apalachee High School, who had sat next to the alleged gunman in their Algebra 1 class before he walked out to fetch his weapon, told CNN that his being the shooter didn't catch her off guard.
She remarked: "He never really talked. He wasn't there most times" and added: "Either he didn't just come to school or he would just skip class. Even when he would've talked it was just one word answers or short statements."
Meanwhile, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith addressed the media shortly after the incident outside of the school, stating: "What you see behind us is an evil thing."
The sheriff continued, asserting: "Within minutes law enforcement was on scene, as well as two school resource officers assigned to the school who immediately encountered the subject. The subject immediately surrendered. He gave up, got on the ground. And the officers took him into custody."
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The aunt is correct and she's wrong all at the same time. Yes, this boy hadn't be in trouble and it was in his household. There's the reason why he was troubled. So that means your brother or your brother.In law was the reason why this boy snapped and went to school and killed people.That have nothing to do with it, and if you his aunt and you love them so much and you was hurt, why didn't you do something to step in to try to get him out of that bad situation versus leaving him there and now you want to be able to say, oh, i'm gonna.Stand by him.You should have stood by him before he shot and killed people
Jimmy
09-05
This was a brand new school for him, how did anyone have time to hurt his feelings?
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