Tragic School Shooting in Georgia Sparks National Debate on Gun Control

A 14-year-old boy, Colt Gray, shot and killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Nine others were injured in the attack. The incident has reignited the national debate on gun control, with calls for legislative action from President Biden and other political figures.

A 14-year-old boy killed two fellow students and two teachers and wounded nine others in a shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, jolting the United States with the first mass campus shooting since the start of the school year. The suspect, who had been interviewed by law enforcement last year over online threats about committing a school shooting, was taken into custody shortly after the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, investigators said.

He was identified as Colt Gray, 14, and will be charged and tried as an adult, Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, told a press conference. Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said the gunman, armed with an "AR platform style weapon," or semiautomatic rifle, was quickly confronted by deputies assigned to the school and that the suspect immediately got on the ground and surrendered.

Once under arrest the suspect was speaking with investigators, who believe he was acting alone, but they declined to say if they knew what motivated him. Officials identified those killed as two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. All nine of those hospitalized were expected to recover, Smith told reporters.

(With inputs from agencies.)