Mason Schermerhorn last texted his mom from the restroom before he was discovered as one of the four killed in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, a chaplain and youth minister who tried to help find the teen said. 

Ronald Clark had stopped at a store on his way home Wednesday morning, when he learned of the shooting from his wife via phone call.

He rushed to the scene, and quickly offered his services to law enforcement at the command post. He was instructed to assist crews on the investigative side. 

About an hour later, he said he started seeing the students, who were “hurt.”

VIDEOS TAKEN INSIDE APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL SHOW GUN, ORDERED EVACUATIONS

“You want to have the arms big enough to grab everybody, but it’s only so much that you can do,” he said, calling the situation “challenging.”

He described the look on victims’ faces as “shock,” and said those who provided their testimonies to him in an attempt to cope were “strong.”

About 30 minutes later, Clark said he began assisting Schermerhorn’s mother, who is his coworker, with trying to find him.

“It was hard, because we were just talking about her kids on Tuesday this week,” Clark said. “She was saying that the bond and the connection she has with her kids is unbreakable.”

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Wes Robertson, area county teacher and former teacher of slain student Mason Schermerhorn, lays flowers at the entrance sign of Apalachee High School on September 5, 2024, in Winder, Georgia. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Schermerhorn’s mother told the chaplain she believed that the 14-year-old autistic student was okay.

“‘Hey, I can’t find him,” Clark remembers her saying. “‘I’m just here to pick him up. I know he’s safe. He text me that he’s in the restroom. Can you please help?’”

Clark then took a photo of the teen to the command post, where he quickly learned that Schermerhorn was one of the “confirmed” dead. 

From left to right: Math teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie were killed at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, along with Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, officials say. (Fox News)

“He was a great kid, from what I was told. Loved life, didn’t have any issues with anyone. He was autistic, but that didn’t stop his glow,” Clark said.  

As for any advice the youth minister could give parents, it is to maintain communication with their kids. 

“You don’t understand how much we are valued at home,” he said, adding that some children’s faces lit up on Wednesday when they were reunited with their parents following the school shooting. “Pay attention to your children.”

Jackson County, Georgia, officers in 2023 spoke face-to-face with the boy who is now charged with felony murder in the deaths of four at Apalachee High School in Winder on Wednesday.

The sheriff’s officers described their interactions in a detailed investigation report from May 21, 2023, when suspect Colt Gray was 13 years old, after being tipped off by the FBI about a threat on the messaging app Discord of a threat to shoot up a middle school. Discord is popular with some video gamers.

Gray said he had previously deleted a Discord account and denied that he would make such a threat, “even in a joking manner,” according to the report.

Gray’s father, Colin, told the officers that he had hunting rifles in the house but that his son “does not have unfettered access to them.” The two guns were both “locked away,” the father told them. Authorities have said the shooting was carried out with an AR-style rifle.

VIDEOS TAKEN INSIDE APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL SHOW GUN, ORDERED EVACUATIONS

“I urged Colin to keep his firearms locked away, and advised him to keep Colt out of school until this matter could be resolved,” investigator Daniel Miller Jr. wrote.

Jackson County investigators could not substantiate the Discord threat, which came from a user profile that spelled Lanza in Russian, according to the report. Adam Lanza perpetrated the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

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The officer also found that the information sent to the FBI was communicated via various IP addresses across the world: Palmdale, California; Los Angeles; and Cockburn, Australia. He also reviewed the email address and phone number related to the case as well as the user profile linked to the threats. 

A screenshot from a video shows the weapon allegedly used in the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. (Alexsandra Romero/Joel Romero via Storyful)

“At this time, due to the inconsistent nature of the information received by the FBI, the allegation that [the Apalachee shooting suspect or his father] is the user behind the Discord account that made the threat cannot be substantiated,” the investigating officer wrote in 2023. “This case will be exceptionally cleared.”

The FBI said Thursday that the bureau did not directly investigate the suspect behind the Georgia high school mass shooting this week but shared the anonymous tip with local law enforcement.

The report described the suspect as “quit (sic), calm and reserved while we spoke with him.” Colin Gray said his family had recently been evicted from their previous home, that he and his wife were divorced and that “she took the two younger kids.”

“Colin conveyed that his 13 year old son had some problems at West Jackson Middle School and now that he is going to Jefferson Middle School it has gotten a lot better,” the report reads.

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An FBI source told Fox News Digital that if there is no immediate threat to life, it is protocol to inform local law enforcement, provide information and have them investigate tips.

“There’s only so much you can do when you get those warnings,” former FBI agent Rob D’Amico told “FOX & Friends First” on Thursday. 

GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING INVESTIGATORS ZERO IN ON 14-YEAR-OLD SUSPECT’S INTERNET HISTORY, PAST: EXPERT

Cars are parked on the side of a road as law enforcement officers work at the scene of a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. (REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage)

“The local officers went out and interviewed the father, interviewed the son. He denied making those online threats,” D’Amico continued. “The father said that the son did not have unfettered access to the weapons. They did what they could, and then they left because there was no probable cause to take other action.”

A spokesperson for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told Fox News Digital that the parents of the suspected shooter “have been cooperative up until this point.” 

The comment came in response to a question about whether authorities are investigating the shooter’s parents in the wake of Wednesday’s attack, which left four dead and nine others injured.

The suspect has been booked into the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center and was charged with four counts of felony murder ahead of his first court appearance Friday morning. The Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center is located about an hour north of Apalachee High School in Winder. 

Women weep during a vigil at Jug Tavern Park after the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. (Reuters/Elijah Nouvelage)

Matthew Fagiana, a retired police sergeant and law enforcement consultant, told Fox News Digital that officials are zeroing in on the 14-year-old suspect’s past and motive at the start of the investigation.

“Things such as the timeline of the incident, a chronological history of the suspect leading up to the shooting, a deep look into the suspect’s past for things such as interactions with the victims, the existence of any indications of violent behavior, statements or social media posts that could help them develop a motive, and recent internet history,” he said. 

“And that, of course, only scratches the surface of the investigation,” he added.

Fagiana noted that responding agencies, including the FBI’s Atlanta field office and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, are combing the scene of Apalachee High School to construct an “accurate picture” of the suspect’s pathway through the school.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

This is a developing story.

Colt Gray, the alleged gunman who opened fire at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, killed four people and injured at least nine Wednesday morning when he began shooting at innocent victims inside the school, police say.

Officials said the four victims killed were two students, Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irmie.

Gray, a 14-year-old student at Apalachee High School and the sole suspect, opened fire using an “AR-platform style weapon,” according to GBI Director Chris Hosey.

During a press conference Wednesday evening, Hosey said that officials are still investigating where Gray obtained the weapon.

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A joint statement from the FBI’s Atlanta field office and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office was released on Wednesday and revealed that law enforcement received an anonymous tip in 2023 about online threats regarding a possible school shooting.

The subject referred to in the statement was a 13-year-old who “is the same subject in custody related to today’s shootings at Apalachee High School,” the FBI said.

“The FBI referred this information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for action,” Hosey said. 

“The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office identified and located Gray, who is our suspect in this case. They conducted an investigation at that time and there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action. This is not recent. This is in the past, but we wanted to bring that to your attention because we are pursuing that.”

In accordance with investigations, law enforcement is also looking into prior contact between Gray and his family and the Department of Family and Children Services, according to Hosey.

“This is still a very fluid investigation,” Hosey said. “It is still very active.”

At approximately 10:20 a.m., around two hours after classes at Apalachee had begun, the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of an active shooter.

“Within minutes, law enforcement was on scene as well as two school resource officers assigned here to the school,” Hosey said Wednesday afternoon. 

“Once they encountered the subject, the subject immediately surrendered to these officers, and he was taken into custody,” Hosey added.

APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS RECOUNT HORROR OF DEADLY SHOOTING

Cars are parked on the sides of a road as law enforcement officers work at the scene of a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, U.S. September 4, 2024.  (REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage)

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said Wednesday night that teachers at Apalachee High School are individually armed with a Centegix ID which alerts law enforcement officers of an active incident when a button is pressed.

“The protocols at this school and this system activated today prevented this from being a much larger tragedy than what we had here today,” Hosey said.

“Those that are deceased are heroes in my book,” Hosey told reporters. “Those that are in the hospital recovering right now are heroes in my book.”

Hosey added that joined in heroism are the faculty and staff at Apalachee for their admirable efforts in acting quickly and protecting the lives of innocent students.

An ambulance departs Apalachee High School after a shooting at the school Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga.   (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

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Smith advised that Gray is being held at a detention center and will be transported to Regional Youth Detention Centers (RYDC) in Dalton. 

He will be charged with murder and prosecuted as an adult, according to Hosey.

“When someone preys on kids, it’s tragic,” Smith said. “Pure evil did what happened today.”

Local law enforcement is coordinating both the investigation and charges with District Attorney Brad Smith of the Piedmont Judicial Circuit.

“The priority right now for us, within this investigation, is to gather all the facts,” Hosey said. “This is a murder investigation.”

Surviving victims have been taken to local hospitals to be treated for various degrees of injury, according to law enforcement.