Two students and two teachers were killed in a school shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, and nine others were injured, authorities said.
A 14-year-old student was taken into custody after the shooting at Apalachee High School, about an hour northeast of Atlanta, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The suspect, identified as Colt Gray, surrendered to authorities when he was confronted, Hosey said. Gray used an "AR-platform style weapon" and would be charged with murder as an adult, Hosey said.
Gray was cooperating with investigators, Hosey said. The suspect was previously investigated last year, when he was 13, in connection with threats to carry out a school shooting, the FBI’s Atlanta field office and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The four victims of the shooting were identified as Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53.
Ariel Bowling, a 15-year-old student at Apalachee High School, said Aspinwall, her math teacher, had the "most kindest soul ever."
"I would just want people to know that he was a really kind-hearted man, and he would, really push you and he was just really hard working," Bowling said on TODAY on Thursday. "And he just had the most kindest soul ever."
Eight other students and one other teacher were injured in the shooting. All were expected to survive, Hosey said.
Here's what we know about each of the four victims who were killed on Wednesday.
Mason Schermerhorn
Mason Schermerhorn, 14, was one of the two students killed in the shooting on Wednesday.
Lilianah Ahmed, who identified herself as Mason's sister, wrote in an Instagram post that her brother "did not make it out of the school alive."
In a since-deleted post searching for the whereabouts of her brother, Ahmed wrote that Mason had autism. TODAY.com has not independently confirmed that detail.
Christian Angulo
Christian Angulo, 14, was also a student at Apalachee High School.
Lisette Angulo, his older sister, set up a GoFundMe to help with his funeral expenses "due to his loss being so sudden."
"Unfortunately my baby brother was one of the victims of the school shooting at Apalachee High School. He was only 14 years old. He was a very good kid and very sweet and so caring," she wrote in the GoFundMe description.
"He was so loved by many. His loss was so sudden and unexpected," she continued. "We are truly heartbroken. He really didn’t deserve this."
Richard Aspinwall
Richard Aspinwall, 39, was a math teacher and football coach at Apalachee High School.
According to his Facebook profile, he appeared to be married and had a young daughter.
Bowling, one of Aspinwall's students, described what she thought about when she woke up the day after the shooting.
"I just feel like you're basically never safe anywhere," Bowling said. "And no matter if there's like cops in the school — there's still no safety at all."
Christina Irimie
Christina Irimie, 53, was also a math teacher at Apalachee High School.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith became emotional while speaking about the victims at a press conference.
"I never imagined that I would be speaking to the media in my career over something that happened today, the pure evil that happened today," he said, tearing up. "My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for our community ... but I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail."
