Georgia

Georgia school shooting suspect expected to face more charges as accounts of students’ heroism emerge | CNN

Published

2 years ago

September 7, 2024

Georgia school shooting suspect expected to face more charges as accounts of students’ heroism emerge | CNN

CNN
—

A 14-year-old student charged with four counts of murder after a mass shooting earlier this week at Apalachee High School is expected to face additional charges in connection with the injured victims, officials said Friday.

As authorities mull more charges and examine the case, a small Georgia community is grieving the two students and two teachers who died Wednesday in the 45th school shooting of 2024 – and the deadliest US school shooting since the March 2023 massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville.

In the days since the tragic attack, Apalachee students have given harrowing accounts of the courageous actions they took to protect their classmates and teachers in the face of senseless violence.

In one classroom, a 14-year-old said she kept the suspect from getting through the door when she saw him pull out a gun. And after a teacher in another classroom was shot, students say they pulled him back inside and used the shirts off their backs to try and stop his bleeding while barricading the door with desks and chairs. Even with a gunshot wound, one teenage boy said he raced to close the classroom door to prevent the shooter from entering.

Victims’ families wiped away tears or clutched stuffed animals as they sat in the Barrow County courtroom Friday during Colt Gray’s arraignment, where he declined to enter a plea to the charges against him.

Prosecutors allege Gray fired an AR-style rifle on campus Wednesday morning, killing four people. Nine others were injured, all but two of whom were shot, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

Because of his young age, the maximum penalty Gray could face is life in prison with or without parole, Judge Currie Mingledorff told the teenager in court. In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled no one can be put to death for crimes committed before the age of 18.

Gray’s father, Colin Gray, 54, faces a maximum sentence of 180 years in prison for four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

An arrest warrant for Colin Gray alleges he gave his son a firearm “with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others.” He declined to enter a plea at his first court appearance Friday, and neither him nor his son have asked for bond to be set at their hearings.

“I’m just trying to use the tools in my arsenal to prosecute people for the crimes they commit,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said.

Smith said he expects additional charges will be filed against Colt Gray in connection with victims who were injured during the shooting. Authorities on Thursday said all nine people wounded in Wednesday’s shooting are expected to make a full recovery.

“When he was taken into custody on Wednesday, we did not have the identities or the conditions of the other victims. So we were not able to charge on those offenses,” Smith said. “So when evidence comes in, and they’ve had a chance to heal physically, emotionally and spiritually, we will get with them, and there will be additional charges that address the other victims.”

The next step in the case against Gray will be a grand jury meeting on October 17. This will be followed by a scheduled arraignment before the trial process is started, Smith said. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 4, Mingledorff said.

Here’s what we know so far:

• Suspect will be tried as an adult: Colt Gray, who is being held at the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, is slated to remain there while in custody until he turns 17, Glenn Allen, the agency’s spokesperson, told CNN Thursday. Under Georgia law, a juvenile aged 13 to 17 who commits a serious crime is automatically tried as an adult.

• The four people killed: The shooting at Apalachee High School claimed the lives of two 14-year-old students – Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, as well as two teachers – 53-year-old math teacher Cristina Irimie and 39-year-old assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, who also taught math. Authorities say Irimie was celebrating her birthday with her students the day she was shot and killed, according to a family friend.

• Nine injured are expected to make a full recovery: Of the nine other people injured, seven of them – six students and a teacher – were shot, the GBI said Thursday. The other two – both students – suffered other injuries, the GBI said.

• Suspect was questioned about online threats: In May 2023, law enforcement officials questioned Colt Gray and his father about “online threats to commit a school shooting” that included photos of guns, according to a joint statement from FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time, told investigators during that interview that “someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” authorities said. Authorities could not substantiate the threats and the investigation was closed, according to the sheriff’s office.

• Suspect’s father gifted him the gun involved in shooting: Two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said Colin Gray told authorities he purchased the AR-style rifle used in the school shooting as a holiday present for his son in December 2023 – just months after authorities initially contacted the father about the online threats.

• Suspect had writings on past school shootings: During questioning, Gray told investigators “I did it.” As authorities searched his home, they found documents that they believe he wrote referencing past school shootings, including references to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Bri Jones, 14, was in second period Wednesday when Colt Gray left the classroom, Jones said. “We didn’t notice he left,” Jones said, adding that Gray was “always quiet.”

But Gray came back and knocked on the door, Jones said.

Bri said she peeked out the door before she opened it because that’s what her mom taught her to do.

“As I was looking at the door, he was pulling his gun out, and then I froze up, like I froze up and I said ‘no’ to myself,” she told CNN’s Isabel Rosales.

The teacher asked for the door to be opened, Bri said, “because she didn’t know he had a gun because she was at her desk.” As she went the open the door, “I was like, ‘no, he has a gun,’” Jones said.

Then, the shooter looked up at them before turning and firing shots, Jones said.

“He was looking at me, my teacher, and then somebody was in the hall,” she said. “He turned his head and he just started shooting.”

The students then ran to the back of the class and the teacher turned off the lights, Bri said.

“Once he started shooting, it’s like he kept going, it was so many gunshots after gunshots,” she said. “It felt like he was just shooting forever.”

If she had opened the class door, Bri said she believes the suspect “would have got every single one of us in that class.”

Another student, 14-year-old Ronaldo Vega, immediately took cover under his desk when the shooting began in his second-period math class, he said. Ronaldo was injured amid the four to six shots fired, but he still stood up quickly to close the classroom door so the shooter “couldn’t come back,” he said.

Only after seeing one of the bullets behind the teacher’s desk did he realize he had been shot and was bleeding, Ronaldo recounted.

Richard Aspinwall, a math teacher, heard commotion outside his classroom and entered the hallway to see what was going on. When he did, he was shot in the chest by the 14-year-old suspect, according to family friend Julie Woodson, who cited accounts by Aspinwall’s students.

“We had to watch our teacher come back in the classroom holding himself like he’s been shot, and fell to the floor,” 17-year-old Malasia Mitchell said. “And as he kept going, my teacher was shot again.”

Students in the class say they pulled Aspinwall back into the classroom and used the shirts off their backs to try and stop their teacher’s bleeding, according to Woodson.

Meanwhile, the students closed the door and protected themselves with desks and chairs, Mitchell said.

Woodson said Aspinwall “died as a hero trying to save his students’ lives.”

“If he didn’t walk out and take the bullet … who knows what would’ve happened,” Woodson said.

Malasia remembered her teacher as a “great guy” with “such a happy spirit” — someone who wouldn’t want her to ever give up.

“He wouldn’t want me to just stop coming to school,” she said. “He would want me to keep going.”

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Georgia

Wildfires burning across Georgia and Florida destroy homes and force evacuations

Published

3 hours ago

April 22, 2026

Press Room

Wildfires burning across Georgia and Florida destroy homes and force evacuations

Wildfires burning across the south-eastern US intensified on Wednesday across parts of south-east Georgia, where 50 homes were destroyed, and across north-east Florida, forcing evacuations and school closures in some communities.

The Georgia forestry commission issued its first mandatory burn ban in the state’s history, effective across 91 counties in the lower half of the state, due to worsening drought conditions and rising wildfire activity.

“My office and I are working closely with the Georgia Forestry Commission to respond to the increasing threat of wildfires in South Georgia,” Governor Brian Kemp wrote on X. ”If you are in a directly affected area, please adhere to guidance from your local officials to keep you and your family safe.”

Smoke from the fires drifted to Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, as well as Jacksonville, Florida, while air quality in parts of south Georgia declined to the unhealthy category.

Smoky conditions were expected to linger in the Atlanta area throughout the day, according to the Atlanta-Fulton county emergency management agency, as the worst blazes burned more than 200 miles from the city.

Some of the biggest blazes are reported to be along Georgia’s coast and around Jacksonville, Florida. They have been exacerbated by a long drought, low humidity and strong winds in the area.

Georgia’s two biggest wildfires together have burned more than 31 sq miles, and at least four other smaller fires have been reported.

Drought in the contiguous US has reached record levels for this time of year. More than 61% of the lower 48 states are in moderate to exceptional drought – including 97% of the south-east and two-thirds of the west – according to the US Drought Monitor. It’s the highest level of drought for this time of year since the drought monitor began in 2000.

Florida, the area where the worst fires are burning, is in exceptional or extreme drought, according to the monitor. Firefighters are battling 131 wildfires that had burned 34 sq miles, mostly in the state’s northern half.

Firefighting equipment was being staged across the state so resources are closer to the fires, the Florida commissioner of agriculture, Wilton Simpson, said.

“Florida has got one of the worst fire seasons in maybe the last 30 or 40 years or it’s turning out to be that way,” Simpson said. “We’ve been in drought for 18 months now all across the state.”

The fast-moving Brantley county fire in south-east Georgia is threatening more homes on Wednesday after destroying 47 a day earlier, according to the county manager, Joey Cason, who said the fire grew roughly six times in size over a half day. Nearly two dozen fire agencies called in to help fight the blaze, Cason said at a news conference. At least 800 evacuations have taken place in the county and five shelters have opened, as the fire threatens 300 more homes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.

The Brantley county sheriff, Len Davis, warned residents to be ready to evacuate, noting that the winds could shift rapidly and unexpectedly.

Another large fire that started in Clinch county had also forced evacuations, which were underway in multiple communities, the Georgia forestry association said.

“This is a serious and evolving situation,” said Tim Lowrimore, president & CEO of the association.

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Georgia

Man accused in fatal Georgia shooting spree dies in jail, officials say

Published

15 hours ago

April 22, 2026

Press Room

Man accused in fatal Georgia shooting spree dies in jail, officials say

(WSAV) — The man accused of shooting and killing three people in Dekalb County April 13 was found dead in his jail cell, officials confirmed Monday night.

Olaolukitan Adon-Abel was found unresponsive in his jail cell at 6:48 p.m., a Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said. Life-saving measures were performed, according to officials.

He was pronounced dead at 7:17 p.m.

Adon-Abel was charged with malice murder, aggravated assault and firearms counts in connection to the shooting deaths of Prianna Weathers, Tony Mathews and Lauren Bullis.

In 2025, Adon-Abel plead guilty in Chatham County Recorder’s Court to multiple misdemeanor counts of sexual battery for groping women in Chatham County under the name Adon Olaolukitan.

According to court documents, he was banned from Savannah for four years and ordered to undergo a psychosexual evaluation.

The official cause will be determined by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office, and a standard internal review has been launched, according to officials.

At this time, the sheriff’s office said there are no indications of foul play. No additional details were released.

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Georgia

2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report — Christen Miller, DT, Georgia

Published

1 day ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report — Christen Miller, DT, Georgia

If you want proof that context matters in NFL Draft evaluation, look no further than Christen Miller’s career arc at Georgia. He arrived in Athens as a four-star recruit and spent his first two years buried behind first-round picks Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt, and Jalen Carter — three players who all heard their names called on Day 1.

The defensive tackle assembly line at Georgia is nothing short of extraordinary, and Miller patiently waited his turn. By 2024, his turn had arrived, and what NFL scouts saw was a prototypically built interior defender who carries his 321-pound frame with impressive athleticism and natural leverage.

Miller’s greatest asset is his run defense. He is a solid anchor — quick to press his hands into blockers, disciplined about maintaining gap integrity, and stout enough to hold the point of attack against double teams that would cave lesser prospects — but he’s not dominant.

His lateral mobility is a genuine differentiator for a man his size; he can scrape down the line to close on outside runs or loop inside on stunts without losing his footing or pad level.

That combination of power and movement is why Georgia trusted him on the field for passing downs, and it’s why scouts project him as an immediate contributor against the run at the NFL level.

The legitimate questions surrounding Miller center on his pass-rush production and his still-developing anticipation skills. Over his entire collegiate career, he accumulated only four sacks — never cracking two in a single season.

Still, Miller’s athleticism stands out immediately — he carries his size well and shows the lateral quickness you don’t always find at his frame. His hands have some pop, and he’s flashed the ability to jolt interior linemen off their spot. But he’s a prospect defined more by his floor than his ceiling.

No single trait rises above average, which means his pass-rush production will hinge on technique and motor rather than any physical advantage. He also needs to improve as a finisher — getting close isn’t enough at the next level.

The traits for pass-rush development are present: he has good first-step quickness, flashes as a one-gap penetrator, and showed enough in stunt packages to keep offensive linemen honest. But he has yet to build a consistent, go-to counter move when his initial rush is neutralized. Against better competition, his reaction time to the snap can be late, and he can drift out of his gap assignment when he tries to freelance for a big play.

What Miller offers any franchise is a high floor with a realistic upside trajectory. He comes from one of college football’s most technically demanding defensive line programs, coached by coaches who regularly develop NFL talent.

He plays with a motor that never stops. He competed in SEC trenches for two-plus seasons and was named to the All-SEC First Team as a senior. The experience and winning culture he brings — two state championships in high school, a national championship at Georgia — will matter to coaches who value locker-room character.

The ceiling here isn’t flashy, but it’s tangible: a reliable, two-down starting defensive tackle who keeps blocks clean and lets linebackers run free. In a league that increasingly prizes versatile, multi-technique interior linemen, Miller’s ability to play the nose or the B-gap makes him a schematic asset for even-front and two-gap systems. Don’t sleep on him because his sack totals are modest — evaluating him solely by that metric would miss the forest for the trees.

Miller’s fit in Green Bay is an interesting one. The Packers are switching to a 3-4 base defense under new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, and they lack a proven run-stuffing nose tackle while being long overdue for a meaningful investment on the defensive interior — which is exactly the profile Miller fits.

The team brought him in for a pre-draft visit, signaling genuine interest, and his skill set maps cleanly onto what Green Bay needs. His calling card — an elite run defense grade that ranked second among all FBS defensive tackles — translates directly to what Gannon will ask of his interior linemen, and his versatility to play nose in an odd front or kick out to three-technique in sub packages only adds to the appeal.

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