Brand new panic buttons hidden on Apalachee High School teachers prevented ‘much larger tragedy’ as gunman shot 13

THE shooting at Apalachee High School could have been much worse if not for a new safety alert system introduced just one week ago.

Four people were killed and nine more injured when suspect Colt Gray , 14, allegedly went on a deadly rampage at the Georgia high school on Wednesday.

Barrow County Sheriff's Office

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The school’s new emergency alert technology is deceptively simple: a hidden button on the back of teachers’ ID badges.

Cops raced to the campus, about an hour outside Atlanta , after a teacher used the system to call for help.

First responders arrived at the high school two minutes after the button was pressed.

“The protocols at this school, and this system activated today, prevented this from being a much larger tragedy,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said on Wednesday night.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith also praised the safety measure.

What we know so far…

• Four people are dead , and nine others were injured, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations confirmed.
• Students Mason Schermerhorn , 14, Christian Angulo, 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie were identified as those killed .
• 14-year-old student Colt Gray was named as the suspected shooter.
• Gray and his dad were interviewed by the FBI a year before after authorities received online threats of a possible school shooting.
• A classmate said Gray was blocked from entering a classroom by a student who spotted his gun .
• Students gathered on the football field after the attack.
• President Biden and Vice President Harris were briefed.
• Devastating texts revealed student’s fear.

He said that all teachers in the district have the new ID cards with the hidden panic button on them.

“Centegix alarms us and alerts the law enforcement officers after a button is pressed on the ID,” Smith said.

“We’ve had that for about a week now.”

Once they arrived, cops said that Gray, a student at the school, quickly surrendered after allegedly shooting and killing two teachers and two students.

The victims were identified as 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angelo and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations said.

Nine other victims were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.

The new safety alert system was developed by Atlanta-based campus safety technology company Centegix and was introduced to the school district for the first time this year.

“We are deeply saddened by the event at Appalachee High School,” a spokesperson for Centegix told The U.S. Sun.

The company’s cloud-based wearable devices can be activated in emergency situations to rapidly notify local law enforcement to respond.

The buttons are designed to be a swift and secretive alert system that bypasses the need to speak to a 911 operator.

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Christina Irimie

‘INSANE’ TECHNOLOGY

Stephen Kreyenbuhl, a social studies teacher at Apalachee High School detailed how the new technology works.

“Basically, every teacher has a little digital card on them where we can press a button,” he told CNN .

The teacher said that four rapid button pushes in succession calls the school’s administration to a classroom, while eight presses of the button calls the police.

Kreyenbuhl told the outlet that he saw the school go into lockdown before he even heard the gunshots ring out because someone “saw the threat.”

“It’s insane, the technology we have access to, and we practiced it quite a bit with our administration,” the teacher said.

“They’ve done a great job in preparing our staff for these kind of situations and I just want to say God bless them for doing that hard work that they put in to those scenarios.”

President Biden's statement

President Joe Biden released a statement about the shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia on Wednesday morning.

“Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed,” Biden said.

“What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart.

“Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal.

“We are closely coordinating with officials at the federal, state and local level, and are grateful for the first responders who brought the suspect into custody and prevented further loss of life,” he continued.

“Ending this gun violence epidemic is personal to me. It’s why I signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – the most meaningful gun safety bill in decades – and have announced dozens of gun safety executive actions.

“I also established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, overseen by Vice President Harris. We’ve made significant progress, but this crisis requires even more.

“After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘enough is enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation.

“We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers.

“These measures will not bring those who were tragically killed today back, but it will help prevent more tragic gun violence from ripping more families apart.”

Similar safety measures to Centegix are implemented in nearby counties.

The company’s website says the technology protects over 12,000 locations nationwide.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Centegix and Apalachee High School for comment.

CHILLING ENCOUNTER

Kreyenbuhl’s account of someone in the school seeing the gunman before he opened fire aligns with a student’s account that a classmate blocked Gray from entering a room once he saw the gun.

Student Lyela Sayarath told CNN that Gray left their algebra class that morning around 9:45 am, about 45 minutes before the rampage started.

About 30 minutes later, he tried to reenter the room, but the door had automatically locked behind him.

The protocols at this school, and this system activated today, prevented this from being a much larger tragedy.”

Chris Hosey Georgia Bureau of Investigation director

Sayarath said that a student went to the door to let him in – but stopped in their tracks when they noticed he had a gun.

“I guess he saw we weren’t going to let him in,” the student said.

The teen said Gray proceeded to enter the classroom next door and allegedly unleashed a barrage of rounds as Sayareth and her classmates barricaded themselves in and hid behind desks.

Sayarath said she “wasn’t surprised” that Gray, who was quiet in class, was named as the suspect in the shooting.

“When you think of shooters and the way they act, it’s usually the quiet kid and he was the one that fit that description,” she said.

FBI KNEW OF SUSPECT

Gray was also known to the FBI for a year before the shooting, the FBI revealed on Wednesday.

FBI officials interviewed Gray and his father in May last year after receiving “several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time.”

“The online threats contained photographs of guns,” a joint statement from the FBI Atlanta and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office read.

Gray’s father told the agency that he kept hunting guns in his home but that his son, who was 13 at the time, “did not have unsupervised access to them.”

The teen denied making the online threats. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office continually monitored the teen after the incident.

Now, Gray has been charged with murder and will be tried as an adult.

He is reportedly cooperating with investigators as he’s being held in the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, cops said.

Gray is scheduled to make his first appearance in Barrow County Superior Court on Friday morning.

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