Why a warning from the suspect's mother wasn't enough to stop the Georgia school shooting

New details are emerging in the deadly shooting at a Georgia high school that took the lives of four people and injured nine others. The mother of the 14-year-old suspect reportedly contacted the school 30 minutes before the shooting began to warn of an “emergency” regarding her son and asked a counselor to find him. William Brangham discussed more with Chase McGee of Georgia Public Broadcasting.

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Geoff Bennett: New details are emerging in the deadly shooting at a Georgia high school last week that took the lives of four people and injured nine others.

William Brangham has more.

William Brangham: Geoff, the mother of the 14-year-old suspect reportedly contacted Apalachee High School 30 minutes before the shooting began to warn of a — quote — “extreme emergency” regarding her son.

During a 10-minute phone call, Marcee Gray asked the counselor to find her son. But school officials were not able to locate him in time. This has raised even more questions about how yet another tragedy unfolded, despite some warnings being sounded ahead of time.

For more on the latest developments, we are joined by Chase McGee Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Chase, thank you so much for being here.

So the mother makes this phone call to school officials, saying, please find my son. Do we know anything more about the content of that call or what might have prompted it?

Chase McGee, Georgia Public Broadcasting: While we don’t know much about the content of the phone call, we have some reports from her and her family, the mother and her family, about what might have prompted it.

She says she received a message from her son that concerned her, to the point where she decided it would be best to call a school official. And while we don’t know what was in the content, like I said, it obviously prompted them enough to take action.

That is, a school administrator left to seek out the algebra class where the suspected shooter was in. However, we know by the time that the school administrator got to that classroom, the shooting started just minutes later.

William Brangham: And, apparently, there was some confusion because, I take it, he was new to the school and there was another student with a very similar name that might have caused some confusion?

Chase McGee: Right. And — that’s right.

Colt Gray had only been in the school system for a couple of weeks and of those days had maybe only attended a couple days of school. And so the school administrator was seeking out Colt. And there was a student with a similar name who came up in some early reports.

And that confusion over which student that the school administrator was looking for might have led to some delay in trying to figure out who exactly they were looking for in that classroom.

William Brangham: Are school officials facing scrutiny for receiving this warning and while they did try to locate him not perhaps taking more drastic action like locking the school down?

Chase McGee: Yes, certainly, in the immediate aftermath we did hear from some students, some eyewitness testimonies that suggest that the school didn’t lock down quite as early as it could have.

But we haven’t really heard anything from school officials since they have started directing questions towards the local authorities. That’s the Barrow County Sheriff’s Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who are heading up the investigation.

And at this point, with two criminal cases ongoing, they’re both starting to refer questions to the Piedmont Superior Court.

William Brangham: On the flip side, there’s also some indication that security technology within the school might have helped stop this being an even worse tragedy. What happened there?

Chase McGee: Yes, absolutely.

A couple days before the shooting, Barrow County schools seem to have started testing out this I.D. card-shaped-and-sized button that will alert law enforcement and the safety officer on campus as to a current crisis going on and even give some specifics on location data.

That way, responding law enforcement have a better idea of where on campus they need to get. The campus Apalachee is seated on is this sprawling campus with high school, middle school and elementary school all in one place. So certainly that information might have sped up response time, saving lives in the process.

William Brangham: So let’s talk about the legal situation. The 14-year-old alleged shooter is being charged as an adult. His father, who allegedly bought him the AR-15-style weapon that was used in the shooting, is also being charged here, including for second-degree murder.

Why is it in Georgia they are choosing, prosecutors are choosing that route with the father?

Chase McGee: Yes, that’s right.

And it has less to do with any existing gun laws in the state and more to do with Georgia’s definition of criminal negligence. The state is going to argue that because of a previous investigation into the suspected shooter for his access to guns and previous threats he might have made the act of the father buying him — buying a gun that he would have access to was criminally negligent, and it led to injury and death of a third party, in this case those affected at the school.

And at this point, it seems like that’s going to be the line of argument that the state’s going to follow up with.

William Brangham: I understand that the community there is trying to do everything it can for people who have been traumatized by this event.

What kinds of things are they doing and how are people responding?

Chase McGee: Yes, in the immediate aftermath we saw things like organized vigils, sort of community members coming together to distribute water and other immediate care.

Now we’re seeing more official and organized response. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency has responded today, opening a community recovery center in town that will be open for the next week, or, as the GEMA director told me, however long is needed. That way, people can access financial aid, legal aid and they point out mental health care and spiritual health care with local faith leaders involved.

William Brangham: All right, Chase McGee of Georgia Public Broadcasting, thank you so much for your reporting.

Chase McGee: Thank you.