‘You're Basically Never Safe Anywhere': Apalachee High School Students Recount ‘Traumatic’ Shooting

Students who were present during the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., in which two students and two teachers were killed and dozens of others were injured, have recounted the frightening moments leading up to the event and the aftermath.

High school student Ariel Bowling shared on the Today show that she and a friend had been heading to the hallway to a vending machine when shots rang out on Wednesday, Sept. 4. Then there was a rush to get to safety.

“... We ran back into the room and we piled up on top of each other in the corner,” Ariel recalled. Her mother Tabitha Bowling said that her daughter had called her shortly after and told her, “Mom there’s an active shooting at school.” 

“I told her to run in the classroom and hide in the corner and just be quiet and just do what they tell you to do. At that time I heard five gunshots and then the phone went dead, so I didn’t know if she was hurt ... I was very scared," Tabitha said, adding that her daughter has told her she's "never coming back" to the school following the incident.

After the students were given the all-clear to leave the classroom, Ariel said she finally saw how bad the incident had been. “I saw a deceased body on the floor, but it was covered up. And I saw a female with a shot wound to her leg. And it was just like, a really traumatic experience,” she said, adding that "you're basically never safe anywhere."

Ariel said that her math teacher had been one of the people who died in the shooting, and remembered him as a “really kind-hearted man” who was “just really hard-working.”

She wasn’t the only student who lost a teacher. Isaac Sanguma told CBS Mornings that his algebra teacher, Ms. Irmie, who he described as someone who was really “nice” and made students feel “welcome,” had been one of the victims in the shooting. He said he had seen her “that same morning” and she had asked him if he was “okay” after he had gotten sick the day prior.

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“I didn’t know that was going to be my last time seeing her and talking to her,” he shared. “It just, it doesn’t feel real. I can’t believe my teacher, someone I see every day is gone.”

On Wednesday night, theGeorgia Bureau of Investigationsidentified the students as Christian Angulo and Mason Shermerhorn, both 14. The slain teachers were identified as Richard Aspinwall, 39 and Christina Irimie, 54. The Bureau added that the 9 others who were injured were taken to various hospitals.

Sanguma said he had been walking the halls when he believes the shooting occurred. He recounted that he had gone to the restroom during class at around 10:20 a.m. and when he was heading back, he thought he “heard a boom boom.”

“My instinct was just to run back to class because I’d seen, like, red sirens, red lights in the ceiling and stuff like that. So, I just run back to class and I see my teacher and other teachers… and getting the kids to get into the classroom. And I just … it didn’t feel real.”

Authorities said the shooting was reported at 10:23 a.m. on Sept. 4 at the Winder school. The suspected shooter was identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at the high school. According to theGeorgia Bureau of Investigations, Gray was arrested and charged with murder following the shooting.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said that the suspect gave up his weapon after being engaged by a school resource officer and was taken into custody. Authorities said he was interviewed by law enforcement and will be charged as an adult, adding that the weapon allegedly used was an automatic rifle.

The school was reportedly put on lockdown in the aftermath of the shooting. School Superintendent Dallas LeDuff said schools in the district will remain closed for the rest of the week.

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