Suspect in deadly Georgia high school shooting was flagged to FBI last year
The FBI has confirmed that the alleged shooter who killed two students and two teachers and wounded nine others at a Georgia high school Wednesday has been on its radar as a possible threat since last year.
In a joint statement, the FBI’s Atlanta field office and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said the agency’s National Threat Operations Center received an anonymous tip about threats posted online regarding a possible school shooting in May 2023.
The agencies said that the threats contained images of guns.
Within 24 hours of receiving the anonymous tip, investigators determined the threats originated in Georgia and the matter was referred to the sheriff’s office.
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“The Jackson County Sheriffs’ Office located a possible subject, a 13-year-old male, and interviewed him and his father,” the FBI said. “The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them.”
The agencies said the boy denied making the threats and authorities alerted local schools to monitor the child.
“At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels,” the FBI said.
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On Wednesday, authorities identified Colt Gray, now 14, as the shooter who killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School. Gray surrendered to authorities and was taken into custody following the rampage.
“As a follow to the Joint Statement just released, the subject referred to as the 13-year-old is the same subject in custody related to today’s shootings at Apalachee High School,” the FBI said.
Authorities said he is expected to be charged as an adult with murder.
Investigators are still trying to determine if anyone was specially targeted, but they were not aware of any known connections between Gray and the victims.
Authorities were “looking into every aspect of that individual, his connection here at the school,” said Chris Hosey, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Gray was 13 back in May 2023 when the FBI referred the threat to the Jackson County Sheriff’s office. The family resided in Jackson County at that time and, according to an FBI source, the family have since relocated to Barrow County, Georgia.
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Georgia authorities have not released the identities of the deceased and wounded victims of the Apalachee High School shooting, but one woman came forward to say her father was shot.
In a public Facebook post on Wednesday, a woman named Katie Phenix explained that her father, David Phenix, had been shot at the school.
“We are so thankful for all the texts, calls, and messages about my dad, David Phenix,” the daughter wrote. “There was a shooting this morning at Apalachee High School and my dad was shot in the foot and in the hip, shattering his hip bone.”
“He arrived to the hospital alert and awake. He just got out of surgery and is stable,” she added. “We will update as we hear new information. We are so, so lucky, but please keep our family as well as the AHS family in your prayers.”
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The Barrow County School System will close all its schools for the remainder of the week, said Dallas LeDuff, the county’s superintendent.
LeDuff said the schools will be closed while the district “cooperates fully with law enforcement” and that grief counseling would be available.
The FBI and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Dem VP nominee’s family comes out swinging against his candidacy, backs ex-president
An image circulating online shows family members of vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz openly supporting former President Trump.
The photo was shared online by former Nebraska Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster. It shows eight people wearing “Nebraska Walz’s (sic) for Trump” t-shirts.
“Tim Walz’s family back in Nebraska wants you to know something…” Herbster wrote on X.
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A representative for Herbster told Fox News Digital that the people in the photo are related to Walz through his grandfather’s brother, Francis Walz. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns.
Family members told Fox News they consider themselves “distant” from Walz and have never met or spoken with him. One person in the photo who wished to remain anonymous said they are supporting Trump because “he supports our values.”
Trump replied on Truth Social to the image, implying that he plans to “meet” with Jeff Walz, the older brother of the Minnesota governor.
The older Walz posted a series of statements last week about the Democratic vice presidential nominee on social media.
“I’m 100% opposed to all his ideology,” Jeff posted in one Facebook message on Friday evening, referring to his brother.
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“My family wasn’t given any notice thst [sic] he was selected and denied security the days after,” he added.
“Help MAGA… Get on stage with President Trump and endorse him…; Help save this country….,” a Trump supporter wrote on Jeff’s post.
“I’ve thought hard about doing something like that!” Jeff responded. “I’m torn between that and just keeping my family out of it.”
Gov. Walz has three siblings: Jeff Walz, Craig Walz and Sandy Dietrich.
Jeff moved to the East Coast after growing up in rural Nebraska; he now lives in Florida. He also posted about how he found out his brother was chosen as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate.
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“The only thing I took exception to, and I will stand behind this 100%, was that we felt bad that we found out about his being picked as the vice presidential candidate from radio,” Jeff said. “And we felt like we probably should have been given a heads-up and some type of security, at least for a short time, because I guess that is a big thing.”
Harris campaign agreed to debate rules only after some ‘assurances’ from network
Vice President Kamala Harris agreed to the final rules for the ABC News debate against former President Trump, allegedly following a few “assurances” from the network.
On Wednesday, ABC News released the official rules for Tuesday’s debate between Harris and Trump, including the hotly contested rule that microphones be muted while a candidate is speaking.
The Harris campaign repeatedly pushed back on this rule, attempting to goad Trump into backing out of the original agreement to mute mics, even refusing to sign off on the rules last week in an attempt to renegotiate.
CNN reported Wednesday that Harris accepted the rules after receiving separate “assurances” that mics could be turned on during the debate and the moderators would explain unheard exchanges.
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“ABC News has offered assurances to the Harris campaign that if there is significant cross talk between Harris and Trump, the network may choose to turn on the mics so that the public can understand what is happening, the moderator would discourage either candidate from interrupting constantly and the moderator would also work to explain to viewers what is being said, according to the source familiar,” CNN reported.
The source allegedly added that pool reporters will also be in the room to report on what could be heard while mics are muted to TV audiences.
An ABC spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Beyond the debate rules published today, which were mutually agreed upon by two campaigns on May 15, we have made no other agreements. We look forward to moderating the presidential debate next Tuesday.”
The Harris campaign sent a letter to the network officially accepting the debate rules while still complaining about the terms.
“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President. We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign’s insistence on muted microphones,” the letter read.
It continued, “Notwithstanding our concerns, we understand that Donald Trump is a risk to skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened to do previously, if we do not accede to his preferred format. We do not want to jeopardize the debate. For this reason, we accept the full set of rules proposed by ABC, including muted microphones.”
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After President Biden dropped out of the race in July, the Harris campaign insisted on moving forward with the previously agreed upon ABC presidential debate. However, weeks after Trump acquiesced, the Harris campaign began trying to change the rules to make the microphones live throughout the event.
Though Trump expressed openness to the idea, both he and his campaign attacked the Harris campaign for suddenly demanding changes.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
VP Harris in danger of losing state she ‘almost certainly’ needs to win, analyst warns
Political analyst Mark Halperin argued that Vice President Kamala Harris may not win the essential battleground state of Pennsylvania and that could cost her the 2024 election.
“I’ve been asking people two questions in the state, national strategists to the campaigns — one is, who is currently ahead in the race, and where does Pennsylvania rank in terms of 1-7 of the states that Harris is most likely to win,” Halperin said during a livestream on his media platform 2WAY on Wednesday.
None of the strategists Halperin spoke to ranked Pennsylvania as the most likely battleground state Harris wins, and one strategist put Pennsylvania near the bottom of battleground states she was likely to win, he said.
“As you can see here, this source of mine, whom I trust very much, a very smart person, put Pennsylvania sixth, the sixth most likely state for Harris to win. If that’s true and Harris loses Pennsylvania, almost certainly not going to win [the 2024 race],” he said.
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While it can still happen, it would be “very tough” to accomplish, he argued.
That prediction was backed by two Democratic insiders that Halperin spoke with on Wednesday who “know the state very well.”
They believed Harris was “not only behind” but was “likely to lose the state,” he said.
“They didn’t rule out that she could win it, but they thought it was unlikely. If you believe that… you can’t make her the favorite, and you almost can’t even say this race is a toss-up,” Halperin continued.
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“This is the ball game, right? This is it, the question of ‘where do you get 270 electoral votes?’” he continued. “If Harris can’t win Pennsylvania… very difficult to see what her best path is.”
Pennsylvania is one of seven swing states that decided the 2020 election between Trump and President Biden, and that both campaigns see as the states that will determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential showdown.
National polls show the race remains tight between the two candidates, with the most recent Real Clear Politics polling average showing Harris with a slim 1.9-point lead over Trump nationally. In Pennsylvania, they remain tied at 47%.
The two candidates will be in the Keystone State this week, where they are set to face-off for next week’s primetime debate taking place in Philadelphia.
Trump will headline a Fox News town hall on Wednesday night, and Harris plans to return to the battleground state on Thursday.
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Political commentator Karl Rove warned Democrats on Tuesday that the narrow lead Harris seems to have may not be enough for her to defeat Trump in November.
“On this day in 2020, Joe Biden was up 7.1% above Donald Trump in the Real Clear Politics average. And at this point in 2016, Hillary Clinton was up 6.3%. As you remember, the election came down to a handful of votes in a handful of states,” Rove said in an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
Bill Belichick reposts young girlfriend’s photo as she welcomes him to Instagram
Legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick is officially on Instagram, or “Instaface” as he likes to call it.
And he’s already getting the hang of things after reposting a photo from girlfriend Jordon Hudson.
Belichick made his Instagram announcement Wednesday during his appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” which received a huge round of applause from the group.
And Belichick’s first Instagram story was a repost from Hudson, the 23-year-old who shared a photo of the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach petting a goat at the United States Naval Academy.
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“I will leave the ‘Billy-Goat-ing’ to @bill.t.goat at the @usnavalacademy,” Belichick wrote on his story. “Thanks for the warm reception, J!”
While they have been photographed together, Belichick hasn’t publicly acknowledged his relationship with Hudson, making this another first in the 72-year-old’s life.
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Hudson captioned the photo with, “This is my formal petition for @BillBelichick to change his handle to @ BillyGoat !!” with a goat emoji.
“Welcome to the ‘Gram, Billy!!!!” she added.
Belichick’s first post on his new page was a video statement about why he is joining the social media platform.
“Over the past few months, and not being with a team, I haven’t had the opportunity to express my thoughts at a moment’s notice,” said Belichick, who didn’t land another head coaching gig after parting ways with the New England Patriots after more than two decades with the organization.
“So, now, I’m changing that. I tried to join ‘SnapFace,’ but I couldn’t find it. I decided this was a good place to land, so I can talk to you and show you what I’m up to.”
Since Belichick has jumped into the sports media realm after not finding his next coaching job, joining social media makes sense for him.
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He may be getting some help, but Belichick is certainly off to a hot start with his Instagram debut, and Hudson is doing her part to make him feel welcome.
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Travis Kelce’s team reportedly calls lawyers over viral doc with exact Taylor Swift breakup date
Rumors that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift was planned swirled around after an alleged contract with an exact date they would break up began appearing online.
A document from Full Scope PR, a Los Angeles-based firm, began circulating on social media – first on Reddit — with a split-up date of Sept. 28 for Kelce and Swift. It also appeared to outline a plan for how to handle the reaction to the break-up, including allowing “the initial media frenzy to settle and ensure clarity.”
According to The Daily Mail, Kelce’s reps have denied any such plans to break up with Swift later this month.
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A spokesman from Full Scope told The Daily Mail that the document was “entirely false and fabricated and were not created, issued or authorized by this agency.”
‘We have engaged our legal team to initiate proceedings against the individuals or entities responsible for the unlawful and injurious forgery of documents,’ Full Scope added.
Full Scope PR, one of Kelce’s agents, Michael Simon, and A&A management, a group that also represents him, have not responded to requests for comment by Fox News Digital.
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The document in question points out three key messages: “Respect and Privacy,” “Professional Focus,” and “Personal Growth.” There is also an example of a public statement, which reads, “Travis and Taylor have decided to part ways after careful considerations. They both value and respect each other’s personal lives and appreciate your respect for privacy during this time.”
The statement would allegedly be sent to major outlets “to ensure broad coverage.”
As for “Respect and Privacy,” the documents make sure to emphasize “that the breakup was a mutual decision made with respect for each other’s personal lives.”
In terms of “Personal Growth,” the PR firm allegedly wants it framed as the breakup being “a natural part of life and an opportunity for personal evolution.”
“Share how Kelce is focusing on personal development, self-improvement, and resilience,” the document read.
On a different page, the document also breaks down media interviews with various sports and lifestyle outlets, where the focus would be “Kelce’s recent sports achievements and future goals,” while emphasizing “his respect for Taylor Swift and the mutual decision to part ways.”
Kelce and Swift confirmed their romance together in September 2023, as Swift attended her first of many Chiefs games in Kansas City. They have been going strong ever since, from Swift traveling from a tour date in Japan to Las Vegas to watch Kelce win the Super Bowl, to the star tight end being spotted at numerous concerts this offseason around the globe.
Kelce and the Chiefs begin their 2024 NFL regular season on Thursday, as they face the Baltimore Ravens at home to kick off the new year.
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Meanwhile, Swift continues her shows on the “Eras Tour,” next month in Miami at Hard Rock Stadium on Oct. 18.