14-year-old held with gun at Georgia's Apalachee high school after shooting

A 14-year-old student has been arrested after bringing a gun on Wednesday to Apalachee High School, the same Georgia high school where a shooting in September killed two teachers and two students and wounded others.

The Barrow County Sheriff's Office said school resource officers arrested the boy without incident Wednesday afternoon at the school in Winder, about 65 kilometres northeast of Atlanta. Deputies said the student was cooperative and compliant when encountered by law enforcement officers and there have been no reports of the student threatening anyone with the gun.

The student, who wasn't named because of his age, was taken to a juvenile detention centre in Gainesville. He's charged with two counts of possessing a weapon on school grounds, theft and being a minor in possession of a gun. Deputies didn't say what kind of gun was seized. Authorities said the student was arrested shortly after 2 pm at school, but they did not say when he arrived or release details of the circumstances of the arrest.

 

The Barrow County school district cancelled classes on Thursday at the high school with nearly 2,000 students, located about 70 kilometres northeast of downtown Atlanta.

The September 4 shooting killed teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.

Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time, was charged as an adult after the September shooting and was indicted on 55 counts, including murder and 25 counts of aggravated assault at the high school. He has pleaded not guilty. His father, Colin Gray, was indicted on 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter, based on prosecutors' contention that Colin Gray let his son access guns and ammunition after receiving sufficient warning that the boy would harm others. Colin Gray has also pleaded not guilty.

The district told parents that students and staff should not report to school Thursday and that on-campus extracurricular activities were canceled. The district also cancelled an open house to view new portable classrooms that were erected on campus to replace classrooms in the now closed-off hallway where the shooting took place  Wednesday's arrest came after some students, teachers and parents attended a Barrow County school board meeting on Tuesday to demand that the district take additional visible measures to enhance security at Apalachee. They suggested even more school resource officers, mandating clear backpacks and buying a computerized camera system that the maker says can detect guns using artificial intelligence.

Superintendent Dallas LeDuff said at the meeting that the district will present results from a security survey later this month and has met with school resource officers to discuss what security measures they recommend.

It has been a very intentional process, LeDuff said. I think I am proud of the work our staff has done.