Four people were killed and nine others injured when a 14-year-old boy reportedly walked into a high school near Atlanta, Georgia Wednesday morning with a AR-platform-style rifle and opened fire, going classroom to classroom and pounding on doors, according to authorities.
Two students and two teachers were killed at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said. The GBI identified the four victims as Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. Eight of the people injured were also students, the other was a teacher.
Colt Gray, the suspected shooter, was arrested and charged with murder, according to the GBI. Authorities said he would be prosecuted as an adult.
Gray was interviewed by local law enforcement in 2023 after the FBI's National Threat Operations Center received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting, FBI Atlanta revealed in a post on X, but at the time Gray's father said his son did not have "unsupervised access" to firearms at the home. It is not yet known how Gray acquired the weapon.
According to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive , this makes the 16th mass shooting in Georgia this year, according to their definition (four or more people injured, not including the shooter). Florida has seen 24 so far in 2024.
Georgia school shooting: 14-year-old boy kills 4, injures 9 in Georgia school shooting. Can the father be charged?
US gun violence by the numbers
As of Thursday, Sept. 5 morning:
According to the Gun Violence Archive:
- 11,598 people have died so far this year in the U.S., including 173 children and 802 teens
- 22,321 people have been injured, including 394 children and 2,261 teens.
- 295 law enforcement officers have been killed or injured
- Law enforcement officers have killed 1,003 people and injured 557 in officer-involved incidents
- 855 people were killed in self-defense
- 934 people died from unintentional shootings
- 464 people died in murder/suicide incidents
What is a mass shooting?
The GVA (and the Congressional Research Service ) defines a mass shooting based on the number of people shot in an incident: four or more, not including the shooter. The GVA numbers — which have been disputed by pro-firearm organizations — may differ from the FBI or CDC as they collect data from 7,500 law enforcement, government and media sources, the site explains.
USA TODAY defines a mass shooting as an incident where at least four people are hit with gunfire. Mass killing refers to an incident in which at least four people are killed.
The FBI does not define "mass shooting" at all. The agency defines "mass killing" or " mass murder " as an incident in which four or more victims are killed by any intentional means, which may include gun violence.
Mass killing database: Revealing trends, details and anguish of every US event since 2006
Gun violence in Florida
The Sunshine State has seen 24 mass shootings to date in 2024, according to GVA data, compared to 30 last year. A recent study from safety product review site SafeHomes.org showed Floridians purchased nearly half a million firearms in the first four months of 2024.
Florida led the nation in mass shootings for most of this year but Illinois has had 29, with 26 in California and 24 in Texas.
FBI reports violent crime down from 2023
Despite this, the total number of mass shootings in the U.S. is down so far from 2023, with 385 as of Sept. 5 according to GVA data, compared to 561 by this time last year.
In July, the FBI announced that violent crime was down so far in 2024, and 2023 numbers were down from the year before. In its 2024 Quarterly Crime Report and Use-of-Force Data Update , the agency said murder decreased by 26.4%, rape was down by 25.7%, robbery dropped 17.8%, and aggravated assault decreased by 12.5% over 2023, according to preliminary reports.
How many mass shootings in 2024 happened in Florida?
There have been 24 mass shootings in Florida this year, by the GVA definition:
- Jan. 20, Plantation : Four people were injured in a shooting in front of a Best Buy . One person later died.
- Jan. 20, Palm Bay : A man shot and killed his mother, grandfather and sister and injured his 15-year-old nephew and one other person.
- Jan. 28, Palm Bay : A man shot and killed a priest, the priest's sister, and his own grandfather and injured two police officers.
- Feb. 28: Orlando : An argument over when a vehicle was to be returned resulted in one person killed and six injured.
- March 12, Lawty: Man with knife wound accused of shooting and killing three women .
- March 25, Pompano Beach: A 16-year-old boy and three men were shot by multiple suspects who approached them, deputies said .
- March 31, St. Petersburg: Men arguing outside a restaurant opened fire, injuring three men in their 20s and a 17-year-old girl , police said.
- April 5, Riviera Beach: Four injured in shooting , including a minor.
- April 6, Doral: Man in bar disturbance shoots and kills security officer , six people injured in resulting firefight.
- April 11, Orlando: Deputies responded to a call and found four men shot . One died later.
- April 27, Daytona Beach: A man shot and injured four people during a "physical altercation."
- April 28, Sanford: A 16-year-old shot and injured 10 people at a bar, including Houston Texans' WR Tank Dell.
- April 29, Miami Gardens: Argument about teen fight leaves five people injured , including two teens.
- May 12, Tallahassee: Four people shot in shopping center parking lot , two died.
- May 18, Sarasota: One person killed, four people (including Auburn RB Brian Battie ) were injured.
- May 25, Fort Pierce: Five people aged 15-20 shot at gathering.
- June 2, Pensacola: One person was shot in the foot and three others hit with shrapnel from gunire, police said.
- June 12, Hudson: Man admits to shooting two adults and killing two children, burning all four bodies in fire pit
- June 14, Fort Lauderdale: An apparent drive-by shooting left one person dead and four injured .
- June 23, Tampa: Jacksonville rapper Julio Foolio shot and killed , three others injured outside Holiday Inn.
- July 5, Tampa: Security guard, three bystanders injured in altercation.
- July 8, Fort Lauderdale: A driveby shooting left a man and woman dead and three other people, including a 2-year-old, injured.
- July 28, Pensacola: Three killed, five injured when three men opened fire on a group of people playing dice.
- Aug. 10, Jacksonville: Two females and four males in their teens to early 20s were shot and injured outside a pop-up club.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Georgia school shooting 16th mass shooting there this year. How many in Florida?
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