Crisis Actor: The Apalachee Strong Hoax - Fake Shooting in Georgia

Video Transcript:

Let me introduce you to Lila, who's 16 years old. She was actually in algebra class just this morning, elbow to elbow with that shooter, Colt Gray, as he's been named by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. Like, let me first start with, how are you? How are you coping? I'm okay. Pushing through it, talking to friends, making sure, you know, everybody else is okay. Checking out people around me. Can you bring me back? What happened? I just remember, like, the moment that it happened, he was at the door, and they, I knew they were looking for him already, but he was at the door, and they almost let him in until they backed up, and then he turned away, and that's when you hear, like, the first rounds of fire. So he was in class with you in algebra class. He left. Then he came back, was that the door, and then knocking to be let back in? Why? Tell me something about the doors. Yeah, they lock automatically, so you have to be let in to come back into our classroom. So I think he wanted to come to us first. Come to first to shoot? Yes. To shoot us. And then he was at the door, student went to open the door, and then what happened? She backed away. I think she saw him, or maybe somebody said something, but I'm pretty sure she saw that he had a gun. And so she backed away. So she was about to let him into the class. You think to shoot the students, saw that he had a gun, did not let him in. What happened next? He turns to the classroom to what would have been my right. And he just starts to shoot. And you hear about 10 to 15 rounds back to back. What did you hear? What did you think was going on in those moments? When, as soon as they didn't let him in, you kind of, like, I don't know. I already kind of had a feeling it was going to happen, and it was him. But as soon as they didn't let him in, and you hear the gunshots, you kind of, like, no. You knew that something very bad was happening next door. Did he ever say anything? No, he never really talked. He was pretty quiet. He wasn't there most times. Either he just didn't come to school, or he just would skip class. But even when he would have talked, it was one word answer, it's short statements. You told me off camera, you weren't surprised that he would be the shooter. Why is that? Just because when you think of, like, shooters and how they act, or things that they do, it's usually the quiet kid, or, like, that's a stereotype for it to be. And he was the one that fit that description in our class. Did you ever see the gun, or the student that go to the door? See the gun describe it to you guys? No, I haven't talked with her after this. It was all pretty hectic, but I didn't see the gun. Did he ever have a hobby of guns hunting? Did he ever talk about any of that? No, he never really talked. Can you tell me what it was like inside of the classroom when you hear those gunshots go off? How I heard that you helped to keep the other students calm, right? Yeah. When we heard it, most people just dropped to the floor and crawled in an area, like, piled on top of each other, lost a shoe when they were trying to get to a corner. The teachers turned off the lights, but we all just piled together. And I pushed desks in front of us. I was just telling people, like, oh, push desks in front of you, block in front of you, get low, things like that. And are there any metal detectors in the school? No, not that I know of. Did you guys drill for active shooters? We know that some school districts do that. They were silent drills. So we stayed in our seats. The teachers kept teaching through them. I think it was more for the system of it, instead of preparing us. How quickly, from the moment that you heard the gunshots go off, to the hard lockdown alert going on the screens, letting everyone else in the school know that something had gone wrong. How long did that take? Do you recall? Maybe a couple of minutes, but it wasn't instant. At what point did you know that this was over? When the cops came in the room and asked us for our hands up, asked us if we had anything, a little bit after that, they let us all out. But when it was going to quiet, you hear like cops yelling, but it's kind of quiet. There's no more gunshots, things like that. What was that communication like with your parents? I mean, all of us have phones nowadays. I spoke with many students, texting what they thought might be their last words to their parents. What was that like for you? I called my mom. I called her and I was like, oh, they're shooting up the school. She thought it was like, she didn't believe me at first. And I was like, no, they actually are. And I talked to her for a second. And she was like, oh, I'm on my way right now. And then I was like, OK, I got to go call other people. I text all my friends in the school, out of school, everywhere. And I'm just texting and calling kind of everybody. And what was that like leaving the school? I saw videos of officers escorting the students with their hands raised. What was that like for you? It was protocol, obviously, but I was glad it was over. Like I was glad we were able to leave. I was looking for my friends that were there. I was comforting the ones that had been through a little bit of a harder time. And then, Lila, what would you say to this student that you were just elbow to elbow with just this morning in algebra class? And now this? I'm not sure. I wanted to know why he did it. I think that would be a I want to know why. Lila, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it and the best of you and your family and your community. Thank you for talking to us. Jake.