Stephens County Schools Respond to Winder School Shooting
Late yesterday morning, Sept. 4, many in Stephens County, as well as those across the state and country, were rocked by news of a school shooting in Winder, about 60 miles to the southwest of Toccoa, outside of Athens.
According to the latest reports from the scene, two students – 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and two teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, were killed in the shooting at Apalachee High School, and 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at Apalachee, has been arrested as a suspect in the shooting. Eight other students and one other teacher were transported for medical care of non-life-threatening injuries.
Law enforcement officials told local media outlets that Apalachee High School had received a phone call Wednesday morning warning that there would be shootings at five schools, and that Apalachee would be the first. The identity of the caller has not yet been released. All schools in the Barrow school district were put on lockdown, and schools throughout the region, including all Stephens County Schools, immediately increased law enforcement patrols and presence at all schools.
Stephens County School Superintendent Dr. Connie Franklin released the following statement yesterday afternoon.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Barrow County community. We are following the developing story of the shooting at Apalachee High School with heightened awareness. With support from the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, additional officers are patrolling our schools as an extra precaution. The safety of our students and employees is and always will be our top priority.”
WNEG News will follow up on this report in the coming days as Stephens County, along with communities throughout the state, look at the issue of school safety and the important role school resource officers play in the wellbeing of students and the community.
In other school news from yesterday, at approximately 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, Stephens COunty School Bus number 0902 was involved in a collision with a private passenger vehicle at the intersection of East Savannah and Short streets, near Toccoa Elementary School.
According to Toccoa Chief of Police Jimmy Mize, who was speaking with the students who were passengers on the bus when WNEG News arrived on scene shortly after the collision, no students were injured. According to information from the school district, five students were on the bus at the time of the incident, and the bus was delayed by approximately 30 minutes as parents were notified and the scene was cleared by law enforcement officials.