The 14-year-old charged with shooting up a Georgia high school last week brought a rifle into the school inside his backpack, authorities said.

Colt Gray brought the gun to Apalachee High School in Winder on his own on Sept. 4, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) confirmed.

The assault-style rifle could not be broken down, but Gray hid it in his backpack, authorities added. 

“It would have stuck out, but he had some things that made it concealed,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told WSB-TV Atlanta. 

GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING SUSPECT’S MOM DEFENDS HER SON IN MESSAGE TO VICTIMS’ FAMILIES

Gray was able to leave the classroom because he asked a teacher if he could go to the front office and speak to someone. The teacher allowed him to leave and take his belongings with him. 

“Which was not uncommon. He asked to go up front and speak to someone at the front, and when you do that you take your belongings with you,” Smith told WSB-TV, “so the teacher allowed him to leave.”

Gray then went to the restroom, where he hid from teachers. 

Later, he allegedly took out the rifle and began shooting, leaving two students and two teachers dead. Seven other victims had gunshot wounds, and two others suffered other injuries, police said. 

The victims were identified as Richard Aspinwall, 39; Cristina Irimie, 53; and Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. 

GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING SUSPECT INVESTIGATED FOR POSSIBLE INTEREST IN SANDY HOOK, PARKLAND MASSACRES

A memorial is seen at Apalachee High School after the school shooting on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 in Winder, Georgia. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Apalachee High School does not have metal detectors, GBI said. 

The suspect’s mother, Marcee Gray, called the school counselor the morning of the shooting to warn officials about a concerning message she had received from her son, she said in an interview with ABC News.

She said the last message she had received from her son was, “I’m sorry, Mom,” and that his father had received similar texts – “I’m sorry” and “You’re not to blame for this.”

GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING: NEW AUDIO OF ALLEGED SHOOTER, FATHER ENCOUNTER WITH POLICE OVER 2023 ONLINE THREATS

Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, leaves the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the shooting at Apalachee High School on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024 in Winder, Georgia. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)

Colt Gray has been charged with four counts of felony murder and more charges are expected.

His father, Colin Gray, 54, is accused of “knowingly allowing” his son to possess the weapon he used in the attack, police said. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children. 

Attorneys representing the father of suspected Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray are now asking a court for him to be separated from other inmates to “ensure his personal safety.” 

Lawyers for Colin Gray, who is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of second-degree cruelty to children in connection to the Sept. 4 attack in Winder, Georgia, made the request in a filing Wednesday with Barrow County Superior Court, according to WRDW. He is being held at the Barrow County Detention Center without bond. 

“As a result of the coverage, the public perception as discerned through both the local and national media, and most notably, social media, has led to a nonstop barrage of information being transmitted to the public, leading to incalculable number of threats against the Defendant and calling for both harm and violence to befall the Defendant, and in some cases, even calling for death of the Defendant,” the 54-year-old’s attorneys wrote in a copy of the filing obtained by the station. 

They said that “so many lives in the community of Barrow County have been touched in unfathomable ways, it would be reckless to assume there are NO inmates, either currently or in the near future, being housed in the Barrow County Detention Center, who wish harm to the Defendant,” the lawyers continued. 

GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING: AUTHORITIES REVEAL HOW SUSPECT BROUGHT GUN INTO BUILDING 

“Furthermore, due to both the custodial setting and the non-stop, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, nature of supervision necessary in such a custodial environment, with such a high profile defendant, opportunities abound for individuals to visit such violence upon the Defendant,” they said. 

GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING SUSPECT’S MOM DEFENDS HER SON IN MESSAGE TO VICTIMS’ FAMILIES 

A memorial is seen at Apalachee High School after the school shooting, on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Winder, Ga.   (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

“As a result of all of the above, the Defendant would move this court to Order the Sheriff of Barrow County to keep the Defendant separate from all other inmates in order to ensure his personal safety.” 

The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, is facing multiple charges in connection with the attack. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Four people were killed and nine were injured during the high school shooting.

Local and state officials in Kentucky and federal authorities continued their search Thursday for alleged I-75 shooter and fugitive Joseph A. Couch in a densely wooded area of the southeastern portion of the state.

Couch, 32, is accused of shooting dozens of rounds toward I-75 Sept. 7 near exit 49 in Laurel County, wounding five people from a position in a wooded area on the side of the interstate.

“I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least,” Couch allegedly wrote in a text message around 5 p.m. on Sept. 7. 

“I’ll kill myself afterward,” he said, according to an affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital.

SUSPECTED KENTUCKY INTERSTATE SHOOTER HAS MILITARY BACKGROUND, STILL ON LAM 48 HOURS AFTER ATTACK

Jeremy Honaker, acting U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Kentucky, described the area where authorities have been searching for the fugitive as “extremely wooded and rural,” as it “bumps up against the [Daniel] Boone National Forest.”

“We’re just there to assist,” he said of the USMS, adding the FBI has “taken on a lot of the assistance” with searching for Couch, along with the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, London Police Department and Kentucky State Police.

“It’s a joint effort to try to get a dangerous person off the street,” Honaker said.

KENTUCKY MANHUNT ENTERS 3RD DAY AS OFFICERS HACK THROUGH THICKETS WITH MACHETES: ‘LIKE A JUNGLE’

Trees stand in a wooded area alongside Interstate 75 near Livingston, Ky., Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, as police search for a suspect in a shooting Saturday along the Interstate. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

The U.S. Marshal also said there is “a possibility” Couch could survive on his own in the southeastern Kentucky wilderness, noting he has a military background. Honaker was not sure about Couch’s level of expertise as far as survival in the woods. Couch served in the National Guard.

Authorities believe Couch fired between 20 and 30 rounds Sept. 7.

KENTUCKY POLICE RECOVER SUV, AR-15 IN MANHUNT FOR I-75 SHOOTER

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear met with law enforcement Thursday during the search for Joseph Couch. (Gov. Andy Beshear)

Officers recovered Couch’s Cobalt AR-15 rifle and a small, silver SUV, but Couch remains on the run.

A Center Target Firearms employee told law enforcement Couch had spent nearly $3,000 on the AR-15 and 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM MASON SCHERMERHORN SENT LAST TEXT TO MOM FROM RESTROOM, CHAPLAIN SAYS

Joseph Couch is still on the run 48 hours after police say he opened fire near a Kentucky interstate. (WDKY/London Police Department)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear met with law enforcement on Thursday during the search for Couch. He said four shooting victims have been released from the hospital, and the fifth is expected to survive.

Authorities have five warrants out for Couch’s arrest, one for each wounded shooting victim, charging Couch with attempted murder and assault, the sheriff’s office said. It is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to Couch.

Anyone with information about Couch’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Laurel County sheriff at 606-864-6600 or U.S. Marshals at 1-877-WANTED-2. 

Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.