A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
We've learned new details about the mother of the alleged gunman in last week's school shooting in Winder, Ga., where four people were killed and nine others were injured.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The mother called the school the morning of the attack to warn administrators about her son. Apalachee High School will remain closed while the investigation continues.
MARTÍNEZ: With us now is Chase McGee of Georgia Public Broadcasting. Chase, so what can you tell us about the phone call the alleged shooter's mother made?
CHASE MCGEE, BYLINE: So Marcee Gray is the mother of the alleged 14-year-old gunman, Colt. Text messages surfaced over the weekend about conversations that she'd had with her sister, Colt's aunt, about a phone call she made to the high school, and she was worried about her son. She'd apparently received some alarming messages from him that morning, so she called a school counselor and spoke to that person about 30 minutes before the shooting started. And administrators seemed to take that call seriously. We know someone went to go to a classroom where he was supposed to be, but he wasn't there, so then the school administrator leaves. And it's not much later that the alleged gunman tried to enter that classroom but was prevented because there was a locked door in between him and the class.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, so administrators did act. Did they do enough, though, to react?
MCGEE: Yeah, I'll say, since these text messages have come to light, the school district and other educators have referred questions to authorities. But we know from witnesses inside the school that the school might not have ordered a lockdown as quickly as they could have. There was also some confusion because there was another student with a similar name who happened to be in that same algebra class but wasn't there when the administrator came in after the phone call with the suspect's mother. And I'll say there's still a lot of unanswered questions. We're hoping this next week will give us some clarity as the investigation moves forward.
MARTÍNEZ: So on that investigation, where do things stand?
MCGEE: Yeah, last Friday, we saw the alleged gunman appear in court, along with his father. The son is charged with murder and will be tried as an adult. He is 14 years old, and the maximum sentence for him would be life in prison. Like I mentioned, the boy's father also had his day in court. He was arrested Thursday night, the day after the shootings. He's being charged with murder because he bought the gun for his son that was allegedly used in those shootings. And they're both currently being held in state custody. We're expecting to hear that they'll have new legal counsel representing them soon. Their next court appearance isn't until early December, and we're waiting to hear more from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They're leading up the investigation on this case.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. It's been five days since the shooting. How are people doing there?
MCGEE: Well, I'll say it's really tough. One thing we heard from people right after the shooting is that this isn't the kind of thing that happens in Winder, and we've heard that after mass shootings across the U.S. There's been a number of vigils. And yesterday, we saw church sermons where pastors reflected on the difficult moments in the immediate aftermath but also the really difficult couple weeks to come. In Winder, the state is opening what's called a community recovery center today. People can go there for spiritual and mental health care. There will be representatives from several faith-based organizations. But the wounds of what happened are running really deep, and it's not just for people who were inside the school. It's the hundreds or thousands of others traumatized by what happened this past week.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Georgia Public Broadcasting's Chase McGee, thank you very much.
MCGEE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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