Georgia school shooting: Tragic details emerge of desperate family’s plea to approach their autistic son with a ‘calm voice’ as 14-year-old is named among the four victims at Apalachee High

A 14-year-old boy with autism has been identified as one of the four victims killed in a Georgia school shooting on Wednesday. His desperate family members were unable to reach the teen after the shooting.

In an effort to find Mason Schermerhorn, his family members began sharing his photo online. His sister Lilianah took to Instagram to urge the public to “PLEASE use a calm voice with him” and to “let him know his mother is looking for him for reassurance.”

But shortly after, Mason was identified as one of four people murdered at Apalachee High School. A loved one said after his death, “It’s sad that we can’t even send our babies to school and have them be safe.”

He enjoyed spending time with his family, reading, telling jokes, playing video games and visiting Disney World, his family said The New York Times.

Another loved one said: ‘Beautiful Mason, how awful! (America) has abandoned you… Give your children a hug!’

He had only recently started school.

Another 14-year-old student, Christian Angulo, and teachers Christina Irmie, 53, and Richard Aspinall, 39, were killed in the shooting, allegedly by 14-year-old suspect Colt Gray.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said Gray immediately surrendered when confronted by police, “giving up and getting on the ground.”

At least nine others were injured in the horrific shooting in Winder, Georgia.

Special education teacher David Phenix was the first to be photographed. Phenix was shot in the hip and foot, but survived the tragedy.

After his arrest, Gray will be charged with murder and tried as an adult, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

According to police, Gray opened fire at about 10:23 a.m., killing at least 13 people. Panic ensued at the school.

Footage showed students streaming onto campus as terrified parents rushed to find their children. One mother described the scene outside the school as sheer “chaos.”

Lyela Sayerath, a third-grader, said she sat next to Colt Gray in math class minutes before he began the shooting.

She told CNN that Colt left the classroom at the start of class at 9:45 a.m., about a half hour before the active shooter alert sounded.

Gray hadn’t picked up a bathroom pass, she said, so she initially thought he’d simply skipped class. But then a loudspeaker went off, telling teachers to check their email.

Sayerath said Gray came back outside the classroom shortly afterward and a student stood up to open the door for him, but when he saw his gun, he jumped back.

“I think he saw that we weren’t going to let him in. And I think the classroom next to me, their door, was open, so I think he just started shooting into the classroom,” she said.

Sayerath said Gray fired several rounds “one after the other.” He added: “When we heard it, most of the people dropped to the ground and were crawling down, like piled on top of each other.”

Gray had been on the FBI’s radar for a year before the tragedy.

The federal agency said it questioned 14-year-old suspect Colt Gray and his father last year following “multiple anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unknown location and time.”

Officials said at the time that Gray denied making any online threats and that the only action taken was to alert local schools to “continuously monitor” the troubled teen.

As more information emerges about the school shooting, officially the deadliest in Georgia history, students and parents are expressing their shock at the horrors that unfolded.

One mother, Erin Clark, shared the text messages she had with her son Ethan from the moment he learned there was an active shooter at his school.

He wrote: ‘School shooting rn (right now). I’m scared. I’m not joking.’

His mother responded immediately, assuring him she was leaving work. In a heartbreaking response, Ethan wrote, “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby. Where are you?” Clark said. Ethan told her he was in class and added, “Someone’s dead.”

Many students filmed the aftermath, with one shocked grandfather saying his granddaughters were “led out past blood and victims” after the shooting.

“They heard the shots, a SWAT team came in with guns drawn, looking for the shooters in their room,” James Shappard said. “No child should have to go through that.”