The 14-year-old student who killed four of his schoolmates in Georgia, US, was questioned by police last year about online threats, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said.

In May 2023, Colt Gray was questioned by police who believed he was behind Internet posts containing images of guns, warning of school shootings.

The FBI said its National Threat Operations Center alerted local law enforcement agencies after receiving tips about “online threats of a school shooting at an unknown location and time.”

After determining the location of the threats, police interviewed the youth and his father.

While the teenager denied sending the threats, his father told police he had hunting guns at home but the then 13-year-old “didn’t have unsupervised access to them”.

“At this time, there was no probable cause for an arrest or additional law enforcement action at the local, state or federal level,” the FBI said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the boy used an assault rifle to open fire at Apalachee High School, killing two teachers and two students, investigators say.

Eight other students and a teacher were injured in the attack. Gray was arrested on school premises and will be tried as an adult.

The school sent a message to parents saying it is “currently on strict lockdown following reports of a shooting.”

Survivors described the moment Gray began attacking the students. A student told the BBC she saw him leaving class after a maths lesson and when he returned he had a gun in his hand. One of his classmates saw the gun and refused to open the door for Gray until he continued to shoot at her.

Gray then walked into the next classroom and opened fire.

According to the BBC, it was the 23rd US school shooting of 2024. This year, 11 people have been killed and 38 injured in such attacks so far.

(Tags translation)Georgia shooting



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