People attend a vigil at Jug Tavern Park following a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, the US, September 4, 2024. (REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage)

The student, identified as Colt Gray, opened fire on Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, killing two students and two teachers and wounding nine, law enforcement officials said.

Gray, 14, was interviewed by law enforcement last year after he made online threats about carrying out a school shooting, according to investigators. His father, who also was interviewed, told officials he had hunting guns in the house but his son did not have access to them.

The shooter's ability to obtain the semiautomatic rifle, any signs warning he would actually carry out a shooting and his motive are focuses for investigators digging into the United States' first campus mass shooting since the start of the school year.

An investigator from the Jackson County sheriff's department interviewed the Grays last year, but did not find grounds or evidence of an imminent threat to seek the needed court order to confiscate the family's gun.