On September 4, just a couple weeks into the school year, 14 year old Colt Gray, a student of Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, committed a mass school shooting, killing four individuals before being arrested and tried as an adult.
The authorities recalled that when Gray was asked about being responsible for the shooting, Gray responded with nothing more than, “I did it.”
As for the weapon, Gray was “gifted” an AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present from his father in 2023. Because of this, his father Colin Gray was arrested for having a connection with the shooting. He was charged with manslaughter and cruelty to children, and faces up to 180 years in prison.
Also in 2023, Colt had sent threats out on Discord, planning to execute the shooting in a year. When questioned by the FBI at that time, both Colin and Colt claimed that someone had framed him.
High schools all around the country have been grieving the loss of the four Apalachee members killed. But what saddens high schoolers, teachers, staff members, and parents, is that this big news isn’t seen as big news anymore.
“You never want to grow numb to something like this,” said Prospect’s Associate Principal for Activities and Operations Frank Mirandola. “We as a society cannot recognize this as an unfortunate circumstance that happens every single school year.”
The Georgia shooting, along with other mass shootings such as the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2018 opened up community eyes to the safety risks that students are facing every day.
District 214 takes their students’ and staffs’ safety very seriously, especially in this day and age. With monthly safety meetings and numerous tests and drills, every “what if” thought is considered and never taken lightly.
“We never act like it couldn’t happen,” said School Resource Officer Tyler Johnson. “We always practice for the just-in-case scenarios. I don’t expect anything major to happen, but we still want people to know what they are doing… I believe we all know what we are doing.”
With significant and large events, such as football games, school dances and activities, Prospect covers the campus with officers in a way that students can feel safe without being overwhelmed.
“At the homecoming game there [were] five officers watching over the [fans and students],” Johnson said. “We aren’t going to make that a huge, known thing, though. Again, we are here for the just-in-case.”
With the Apalachee shooting starting with an online threat, it raises questions for the community about the seriousness of social media and instances like cyberbullying.
“All threats at Prospect are taken extremely seriously,” Mirandola said. “We go into great depths to look at anything that comes to our attention.”
According to Mirandola, it is important to reassess social media and safety issues to students every year. Every new year, 25% of the student body walks out, while a new 25% replaces them. This helps not only students, but also teachers to know that everyone in the building is caught up with security procedures and processes for the well-being of the school.
“[Students] don’t see a lot of the behind-the-scenes of [these] procedures,” Johnson said. “I think it is fantastic, though. It is such an honor and privilege to work with high schoolers, on top of keeping them safe every single day.”
