Georgia shooting lasted about a minute after 26 teachers alerted authorities, sheriff says (Page 4 ) | September 9, 2024

“I’ve never seen him really talk to anybody,” Sayarath told ABC News about the suspect, who transferred to the school last month. “He never really talked, and he was just kind of quiet.”

On the morning of the shooting, Sayarath said she did not notice anything unusual about Gray’s demeanor.

That was until both Gray and another student with a similar name left the classroom, separately, and an administrator came in and took the latter’s backpack, Sayarath told ABC News.

“[An administrator] came in and asked for my friend and then when they found out he was in the restroom, they asked for his bag and then they took his bag. And then a little bit later, he came back in with his bag,” Sayarath said, adding that the boy with a similar name is her friend and told her there was some sort of confusion and that the administrator had been looking for Gray, not him.

“I mean, he obviously, like, when he came back with his bag, like, we knew at that point they were looking for [Gray] and his bag, so we thought he had something…We just continued class like normal until [an administrator] asked my teacher to check her email over the intercom,” Sayarath said.

Moments later, Sayarath said, Gray tried to get back into the classroom and Sayarath said her teacher notified administrators.

“[A] student was about to let them in. She backed away from the door and didn’t let him in… And then…from where I’m sitting, I could see him, like, through the window. And then he just kind of turned to [the] right. And then he fired about 10 or 15 shots.”

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