Current:Home > News911 calls from Georgia school shooting released -WealthSync Hub
911 calls from Georgia school shooting released
View
Date:2025-04-11 23:43:05
Family members of students and staff at Apalachee High School called 911 to find out about their loved ones after a mass shooting that left four dead unfolded on Sept. 4, newly released audio reveals.
The 911 call center in Barrow County was inundated after the shooting began at about 10:20 a.m., when authorities say 14-year-old Colt Gray began his rampage. Some callers were met with an automated message that there was "high call volume," according to the audio reviewed by USA TODAY.
"Sir, my daughter goes to the school next door to Apalachee. Is there a school shooter?" one caller said.
"We do have an active situation at Apalachee High School right now. We have a lot of calls coming in and we do have units on scene," a 911 operator responded.
Authorities also released audio of communications between officers on the scene as they cleared classrooms and discovered injured and deceased victims. In one recording, an officer describes applying a tourniquet to an injured female victim. "She's gonna need to get out of here pretty quick," he says.
Barrow County officials told USA TODAY that some 911 calls are exempt from being disclosed as public records if they contain the voice or cries of children.
"What is going on at the high school, at Apalachee High School," one man asked a 911 operator who said she could not confirm any information. "My son just texted me. He's a student in there right now, he says people are dying."
A man told a 911 operator that his daughter worked as a school psychologist at Apalachee and was working with a student in a trailer "next to where the shooting was happening." The man said his daughter tried to hide behind a desk with the student but "she’s upset because she can’t get the door locked."
"I want them to be aware that she’s in a trailer and she can’t lock the door and if they can check on the trailers... hopefully they can check it and get her out," he said.
NEW DETAILS REVEALED:Apalachee High School suspect kept gun in backpack, hid in bathroom, officials say
Over an hour after the shooting started, one call came from a woman who identified herself as Gray's aunt and said she was calling from Florida.
“My mom just called me and said that Colt texted his mom – my sister – and his dad that he was sorry, and they called the school and told the counselor to go get him immediately,” the woman said through tears. “She said she saw that there’s been a shooting, and I’m just worried it was him.”
According to an earlier report from The Washington Post, the teen's mother told her sister that she called the school half an hour before the shooting began and said there was an "extreme emergency" with her son.
Gray is being charged with murder for the deaths of students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Ricky Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Eight other students and one teacher were injured. Gray's father, Colin Gray, also faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and cruelty to children.
The release of the 911 calls comes amid ongoing services for some of the victims planned for Saturday.
A memorial service for Mason Schermerhorn, a ninth grader who "loved Disney World and LEGOs," was scheduled for Saturday afternoon at a civic center and attendees were asked to wear his favorite color, red. Cristina Irimie, a math teacher and pillar of her tight-knit Romanian Orthodox community, is set to be remembered at a separate service in the afternoon.
veryGood! (166)
Related
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- Police say they thwarted 'potential active shooter' outside church in Virginia
- The Czech government has approved a defense ministry plan to acquire two dozen US F-35 fighter jets
- Auto workers union to announce plans on Friday to expand strike in contract dispute with companies
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Judge considers accusations that New Mexico Democrats tried to dilute votes with redistricting map
- Canadian police won’t investigate doctor for sterilizing Indigenous woman
- Leader of Spain’s conservatives loses his first bid to become prime minister and will try again
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- Lahaina family finds heirloom in rubble of their home on first visit after deadly wildfire
Ranking
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- A Turkish film festival has been threatened by accusations of censorship
- Trudeau apologizes for recognition of Nazi unit war veteran in Canadian Parliament
- Astronaut Frank Rubio spent a record 371 days in space. The trip was planned to be 6 months
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- 3 dead after car being pursued by police crashes in Indianapolis minutes after police end pursuit
- Bipartisan Ohio commission unanimously approves new maps that favor Republican state legislators
- 'Monopolistic practices': Amazon sued by FTC, 17 states in antitrust lawsuit
Recommendation
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
Reno casino expansion plan includes new arena that could be University of Nevada basketball home
Nebraska police standoff stretches into day 2 with hostage still trapped in home
This year's COVID vaccine rollout is off to a bumpy start, despite high demand
Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
Jalen Hurts played with flu in Eagles' win, but A.J. Brown's stomachache was due to Takis
Kia and Hyundai recall more than 3 million vehicles due to the risk of fire
Armed man arrested outside Virginia church had threatened attack, police say