The FBI was notified last year of the suspect in the Georgia school shooting

The boy accused of killing four people at his Georgia high school was interviewed by police last year about anonymous online threats, the FBI said.

Colt Gray, 14, denied to police in May 2023 that he was behind Internet photos that featured images of guns, warning of a school shooting.

A suspect opened fire Wednesday at Apalachee High School in the town of Winder, killing two teachers and two students, investigators said. Nine others were injured.

He was arrested at the academy and will be prosecuted as an adult.

Police identified the victims as teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall and 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angelo.

At a news conference, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Chris Hosey said the gun used was an “AR-platform style weapon”.

In a statement, the FBI said the National Threat Operations Center notified local law enforcement in May 2023 after receiving anonymous tips about “online threats to shoot up a school at an unknown location and time”.

The agency said that within 24 hours, investigators had found out that the threats were coming from Georgia.

Sheriff’s deputies interviewed the boy and his father, “who stated that he had hunting rifles in the house, but the individual had no access to them without supervision,” the FBI said.

The suspect, who was 13 years old at the time, denied making the online threats and officials “notified local schools to continue to monitor the subject”.

“At that time, there was no probable cause to make an arrest or to take any law enforcement action at the local, state or federal level.”

Sheriff Jud Smith described the attack as “pure evil” and said police were on the scene within minutes of receiving the 911 calls at 10:20 local time (14:20 GMT).

Two police officers assigned to the school “suddenly encountered this lesson,” the official said, adding that the boy “surrendered immediately”.

The boy was interviewed and spoke to investigators once while in custody, Sheriff Smith said.

The sheriff added that no motive has been identified and law enforcement is not aware of “any possible targets at this time”.