Former FBI Agent Discusses Next Steps For Agency After Revealing Suspected Shooter Was On Watchlist for Over a Year

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Former FBI agent Rob D’Amico told “Fox & Friends First” on Thursday that the FBI will “have to go back” and review the way it handled past interactions with Colt Gray, the suspected gunman who opened fire Wednesday at Apalachee High School. 

The comment comes after the FBI confirmed
that Gray has been on its radar as a possible threat since last year. In a joint statement, the FBI’s Atlanta field office and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said the agency’s National Threat Operations Center received an anonymous tip about threats posted online regarding a possible school shooting in May 2023. 

“There’s only so much you can do when you get those warnings,” D’Amico said. “The local officers went out and interviewed the father, interviewed the son – he denied making those online threats. The father said that the son did not have unfettered access to the weapons. They did what they could and then they left because there was no probable cause to take other action. 

“And that actually happens a lot around the country all the time and they don’t result in school shootings later on, but this one actually did and they will have to go back and make sure everything was done properly,” D’Amico added. 

Fox News’ Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum tells Fox News Digital that “approximately 8” of her personnel responded Wednesday to the Apalachee High School shooting in Winder, Georgia. 

The Sheriff’s Office previously posted a statement from the FBI’s Atlanta Division saying the suspected shooter has been on its radar as a possible threat since last year after receiving information about “online threats” that contained images of guns. 

“The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office located a possible subject, a 13-year-old male, and interviewed him and his father. The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them,” the statement read. “The subject denied making the threats online. Jackson County alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject.” 

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

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A video has captured the moment law enforcement evacuated students from Apalachee High School in the wake of Wednesday’s deadly shooting.  

“Single file line down this aisle right here, after this deputy. Hurry up now, come on let’s go… we got a whole school to get evacuated people, come on now,” a voice is heard instructing the students.  

The person filming the video then walks past an armed officer standing at the entrance of a classroom.   

In the hallway of the building, students can be seen walking in a line. 

A spokesperson for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation tells Fox News Digital that the parents of suspected Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray “have been cooperative up until this point.”

The comment came in response to a question regarding whether authorities are investigating Gray’s parents in the wake of Wednesday’s attack, which left four dead and nine others injured.

Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

A beloved football coach, who was among four victims killed
in a high school shooting in Barrow County, Georgia, on Wednesday morning, was remembered as a “leader of men” who passed on the “old-school ways” of the game to the children he coached.

Ricky Aspinwall, a 39-year-old husband and father of two young daughters, taught math at Apalachee High School, where he was also the football team’s defensive coordinator. 

Mike Hancock, the school’s head football coach, told the Athens Banner-Herald that Aspinwall was “a great dad” who loved his wife and their two daughters and was also respected in the game of football.

“He worked his tail off,” Hancock said. “He coached old-school ways, but he loved those kids. It’s heartbreaking really for our kids, but for his wife and his two daughters…”

Aspinwall was killed when the alleged 14-year-old shooter opened fire inside the school. Math teacher Christina Irimie and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, were also killed. Authorities said nine others were wounded in the shooting.

The mother of a student at Apalachee High School told The New York Times that she received a text from her daughter Wednesday that read “Mom, I heard gunshots. I’m scared. Please come get me.” 

However, Anetra Pattman, who teaches social sciences at an alternative school in Barrow County, had to remain calm and stay with her own class, the newspaper adds. 

“At that moment, the primary thing was continuing this communication with my daughter, but now I’m also responsible for keeping my other children safe,” Pattman said. 

The teacher told the newspaper that her school went into a lockdown before she was reunited with her 14-year-old daughter Macey later that afternoon. 

The student shooter accused of opening fire at Apalachee High School has been booked into the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, according to WSB-TV. 

Colt Gray, 14, is accused of killing four people and injuring nine others during the attack.

The Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center is located about an hour north of Apalachee High School in Winder. 

Gray, who is a student at Apalachee High School, will be charged with murder and prosecuted as an adult, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith says. 

Fox News’ Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

A towing company in Georgia is offering free services to students and faculty at Apalachee High School following the shooting there Wednesday. 

The owner of All County Towing and Recovery told Fox5 Atlanta
that they don’t want those affected by the shooting to have to return to the school so soon, so they are offering free tows of vehicles left in the school’s parking lots. 

At least five vehicles have been towed away from the property overnight, the owner added, noting that he used to go to the school and that shooting victim Richard Aspinwall was his football coach.

The FBI has confirmed
that the alleged shooter who killed two students and two teachers and wounded nine others at a Georgia high school Wednesday has been on its radar as a possible threat since last year. 

In a joint statement, the FBI’s Atlanta field office and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said the agency’s National Threat Operations Center received an anonymous tip about threats posted online regarding a possible school shooting in May 2023.

The agencies said that the threats contained images of guns. 

Within 24 hours of receiving the anonymous tip, investigators determined the threats originated in Georgia and the matter was referred to the sheriff’s office.

“The Jackson County Sheriffs’ Office located a possible subject, a 13-year-old male, and interviewed him and his father,” the FBI said. “The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them.”

On Wednesday, authorities identified Colt Gray, now 14, as the shooter who killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School. Gray surrendered to authorities and was taken into custody following the rampage. 

Authorities have identified the four victims who were killed in the shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday morning when a student opened fire inside the school. 

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director (GBI) Chris Hosey said two 14-year-old students and two teachers were killed during the shooting. 

Hosey identified two students killed at Apalachee High School as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Hosey said math teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irmie were also killed during the shooting. 

One of the faculty victims, Aspinwall, was also a football coach at the school. 

“Coach Aspinwell was one of the most kindhearted teachers I have ever met. He always made it known that if I needed help with anything he was there,” a student wrote in a tribute on Instagram.