Heartbreaking comments of girl who survived Georgia high school shooting that will haunt parents everywhere
A student who survived the Apalachee High School shooting said she will never feel safe returning to the scene of the massacre.
Ariel Bowling spoke candidly on the Today Show about her feelings following Wednesday’s massacre.
“I just feel like you’re never safe anywhere… It doesn’t matter if there are cops at school, there’s still no safety at all,” she said.
Her mother Tabitha added that her daughter had told her she would never go back to school, describing the situation as “traumatic.”
Bowling was one of the people evacuated from the building shortly after 14-year-old suspect Colt Gray opened fire, killing four people.
Ariel Bowling, pictured with her mother Tabitha, explains how unsafe she feels after surviving the Apalachee High School shooting
Students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Christina Irimie, 53, and Richard Aspinwall, 39, were named as victims.
Bowling was a mathematics student of Aspinwall’s and remembered him as a “kind man” with “the kindest soul ever.”
She said she was on her way to the vending machine when the chaos broke out.
“We heard shots and ran back to the room. We all huddled together in the corner,” Bowling said.
The teen called her mother during the devastation, but hung up to call authorities.
“I heard five shots and then the phone went dead. I didn’t know if she was hurt. She called 911, I was very scared,” the mother explained.
The Winder, Georgia massacre left four people dead and nearly a dozen others injured. Pictured: A mother and her children bow their heads in prayer during a vigil for the victims
After being given the green light, Bowling described the horrific scene as she was led out of the building.
“I saw a dead body on the ground, but it was covered, and I saw a woman with a gunshot wound in her leg. It was a really traumatic experience,” she said.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, nine victims were taken to hospitals with gunshot wounds.
The shooting was reported at 10:23 a.m. and Gray surrendered to police after being arrested.
He has been charged with murder and will appear in court for the first time on Friday.
Authorities say an AR-style weapon was used in the fatal shooting and an investigation is ongoing into how the weapon came into the shooter’s possession.
Mason Schermerhorn, 14, an autistic student at Apalachee High School, was the first victim to be identified. He was one of four people killed in the mass shooting
Teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall were killed in the tragedy
Student Christian Angulo, 14, was also shot dead in the senseless shooting
The question also remains how he was able to walk onto campus armed.
It has since emerged that Colt had been known to the FBI for at least a year and had previously been questioned about threats against the school.
However, when detectives spoke with the teen and his father, they were assured that he was not left unsupervised near his father’s hunting rifles and that he was not responsible for the threats.
They found no probable cause for an arrest and seized no weapons, instead advising local schools to remain on alert.
Gray’s family has now made the chilling threat to go “full throttle” now that it has been announced he will be charged as an adult.
The teen’s aunt, Annie Polhamus Brown, posted a message on Facebook after the incident addressing the issues he was facing, saying she would “take care of my nephew and what he needs on this side.”