WINDER, Ga. — Months after responding to the fatal shooting at Apalachee High School in on Sept. 4, a school resource officer sat down in an interview with a local church to discuss details of the incident, CNN reported.
The shooting left four people dead — two students and two teachers — and seven others injured, but the officers’ swift response likely prevented further devastation, according to the report. The accused shooter, 14-year-old Colt Gray, was armed with a rifle and carrying extra magazines when Boyd and King confronted him in a smoke-filled hallway.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of information, but … then all of a sudden we hear gunshots and we both kind of looked at each other for that split second,” Boyd said.
Disoriented by the echoes and chaos, the officers navigated through the building, calling in the active shooter situation over the radio, Boyd stated in the interview. At a hallway intersection, they encountered a dark silhouette obscured by smoke and debris. Unsure whether the figure was a teacher, student or the shooter, Boyd and King instructed the individual to drop any weapons.
The silhouette complied and Boyd heard the clatter of a weapon being dropped. On the ground near the subdued individual was the rifle and what Boyd initially thought was a duffel bag, but turned out to be one of the victims, according to the report.
The shooter, subdued and handcuffed, soon became aggressive, struggling and yelling profanities, Boyd remembered.
“There was no reason for him to stop shooting at all. Had he just opened fire into that hallway at us, he could have killed us,” Boyd said. “I took several full magazines of ammunition out of his pockets like he wasn’t done,” Boyd recalled.
Gray has since been indicted on 55 charges, including four counts of felony and malice murder, according to the report. His father, Colin Gray, faces 29 charges, including two counts of second-degree murder, for allegedly providing his son access to firearms despite warnings of potential danger. Both have pleaded not guilty.
