The Irony of the Apalachee High School Shooting Death Victims

The Irony of the Apalachee High School Shooting Death Victims by Sherri Jefferson

The African American Juvenile Justice Project (AAJJP) extends our condolences to the families of the Apalachee High School shootings and continues to pray for the community-at-large. 

The Irony of the Apalachee High School Shooting Victims: 2-14 Year Old Minority Boys (Black and Latino). 

Victims Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie, both math teachers, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14-years-old were murdered by 14-year old Colt Gray. Gray had a history of communicative threats that local law enforcement and the FBI ignored. Did the FBI and local authorities including the school and its board ignore the Wednesday, September 4, 2024 telephone threats of school violence? School closure would have been the best solution! 

The City of Winder is located in Barrow county, which is about 95% White and has more than 20,000 residents and less than 400 Hispanics and 1500 Blacks, yet two minority boys were targeted?

Black youth in Georgia face communicative threat charges for talking back to school teachers and telling a classmate they will "kick their butts."  But 13 Colt Gray allegedly posted photos of guns and threatened to shoot-up a school and the local law enforcement and the FBI asserted there was no "probable cause" to arrest him or subject him to court intervention for monitoring. At 14, he murders 4 people and injures others.

Disparity and discrimination in the juvenile justice system must be addressed.