Weeks after a shooting at Apalachee High School, students return to class

WINDER, Ga. – Classes at Apalachee High School are scheduled to resume Tuesday, nearly three weeks after a shooting on the campus in northeast Atlanta killed two students and two teachers and injured nine others.

According to police, 14-year-old student Colt Gray sneaked out of math class on the morning of Sept. 4 with an AR-15 rifle given to him by his father. Within minutes, gunshots rang out in the classroom and students cowered behind their desks while teachers barricaded classroom doors. The school was put on lockdown. Some students saw bodies as police led them to the football field, where others were bleeding from graze gunshot wounds.

Now Apalachee students are returning to school.

“I don’t want to go back because it’s my last year and things are a little tough for me,” said Garcia Ramirez, a junior at Apalachee University and a close confidant of the football coach killed by the shooter.

But the open house the school hosted on Monday helped Ramirez feel more “ready” to return. He said there was “not a corner” of the school that didn’t have staff, police officers, counselors or therapy dogs roaming the halls. He was especially happy to hear from school officials and see how much they cared.

The atmosphere was one of both joy and unease, Ramirez said. Students were happy to be together again, but some were nervous about returning to class because the cordoned-off hallway where the shooting took place reminded them of the time when their safety was at stake.

Within two days of the shooting, Gray was charged with four counts of murder and his father was charged with similar charges. Officials say Gray shot and killed 14-year-olds Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, as well as teachers Richard Aspinwall, the 39-year-old football coach, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Another teacher and eight other students were injured.

Classes will resume for half days until students return from fall break in mid-October. The school calls this a “phased resumption.” The auditorium where the shooting occurred will remain closed for the rest of the school year, so students will be bused to a building a few miles away where they have social studies classes. There will also be more police on campus, as well as counselors and therapy dogs, just like at the open house.

Amanda Buckingham, a mother from Apalachee, appreciates the shorter class hours with less schoolwork.

“I think this will aid the healing process and allow the children to work together again and talk about their feelings in this environment,” Buckingham said.

Less than a week after the shooting, concerned parents brought their children back to neighboring elementary and middle schools in Winder, with some raising concerns about the safety protocols in place at all three school campuses, even as police officers stood outside.

Other community members fear the school is not doing enough and have called for metal detectors, long-term law enforcement plans and at least temporary online learning options.

“There are safety measures in place, and just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there, contrary to what you hear and see on social media,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said at a news conference outside the school on Monday.

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Kramon is a corps member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on issues that aren’t as well-known. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon