At Apalachee High School, the shooting on September 4 claimed four lives and nine injuries. The suspect was a student at the school, named as 14-year-old Colt Gray.
The other students who died were identified as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, while the teachers killed in the crash were math instructors Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irmie, according to officials.
Former FBI agent Rob D’Amico said on “Fox & Friends First” that the FBI and local law enforcement will have to “go back” to review how they handled prior interactions with Colt Gray. Gray was on the FBI’s radar as a potential menace for over a year.
The National Threat Operations Center had received an anonymous tip in May 2023 that threats alluding to a school shooting were circulating online, the FBI’s Atlanta field office and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said in a joint statement.
“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.
Now, law enforcement is looking into the suspect’s internet history and previous activities.
Matthew Fagiana, a retired police sergeant and law enforcement consultant said investigators will be looking for “a chronological history of the suspect leading up to the shooting,” including interactions with victims; evidence demonstrating violent behavior or intent; statements made by them recently that could indicate motive at play between two acts, as well what they’ve been browsing online.
“Of course, this is just the start of our investigation,” said Fagiana. They are trying to piece together an accurate picture of what the suspect was up to, Donovan said at a news conference.
Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said eight officers from her department responded to the residence. The Sheriff’s Office had issued a statement saying the suspect was known to have been on the FBI radar since last year after gun-related threats were reported online.
With this ongoing investigation officials are piecing together exactly what happened before it ended in a deadly situation.
