WINDER, Ga. — A Georgia community was rocked Wednesday morning after an active shooter opened fire inside Apalachee High School in Barrow County.
Four people are dead, nine others are hospitalized, and a 14-year-old suspect who was a student at the high school, identified as Colt Gray, is in custody, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
CNN reported that 30 people were injured in total -- with nine of those needing to go to the hospital, the GBI said.
Students at the high school spoke about how it was hard to initially know what was going on when they heard the initial gunshots -- saying they weren't sure what the sounds were at first. Some students who were in classrooms adjacent to where shots were fired spoke about their traumatic experience, not knowing whether they would make it out alive.
"I thought I was gonna die," said Zoe Gray, a student at Apalachee High School. "It sounded so close -- I'm sure it was because it was right near. I don't know exactly which door, but you hear 'bang, bang' kind of like they're trying to get in a door. It wasn't our door, but I'm sitting right by the door, and so it sounds like they're trying to get in -- but I don't know if it's shots or they're just trying to get in."
Gray said that the school day started off just like any other normal morning does and said that it was just as routine as it usually is.
"We were just having a normal day. It wasn't anything different than what we were used to. They usually make you put up your phone, but I was charging mine today, so I luckily had it," Gray said. "It was just normal, and then 'bang, bang, bang,' hard lockdown. And the teachers were phenomenal ... they were very good at doing their job of keeping us calm."
Other students told 11Alive that they were almost convinced there was more than one gunman, describing the number of "bang" sounds they heard while inside the classroom. One student told 11Alive they felt like they heard shots coming from different locations.
"It was just a loud boom as if a locker had slammed. So my teacher thought it was just some kid acting foolish," another student told 11Alive. "So then she took a peek outside, and then we heard repeatedly the banging again, and that's when we could identify it was the gun. And then the hard lockdown was placed, and then we ran to the back of the classroom (and) turned off the lights. I was shaking."
The number of parents and family on the scene after the shooting rivaled the number of law enforcement, as students gathered on the football field for hours as they reunited with their families who were so desperate to see their loved ones once again.