The 17-year-old boy, who authorities say was beaten and shot at by a girl’s father at a church in Mt. Airy, has been released from the hospital, officials say. The boy, whose name has not been made public, was initially thought to have been shot, but officials later said doctors determined his injuries were caused by the assault and ricochet.
Investigators say the man accused of wounding the teen, Dustin Vandergrift, told them he traced his 17-year-old daughter’s cellphone to the back of Central Alliance Church. When he went to check on her, he found her with the boy.
“Vandergrift confronted the juveniles and physically attacked the male juvenile before firing a shot at him,” Habersham County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Kevin Angell said following the incident.
The 36-year-old Vandergrift remains in the Habersham County Detention Center awaiting his first court appearance. He faces multiple charges including aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, first-degree cruelty to children, third-degree cruelty to children, recklessly causing harm or endangering safety and simple battery under the Family Violence Act.
Investigators served a search warrant on Vandergrift’s vehicle and say they recovered the .45 caliber M1911 firearm used in the incident. Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell says they also obtained video of the incident.
MORE: Father arrested in shooting at Mt. Airy church
‘Very scary’
The shooting happened across the road from Habersham Central High School and the Habersham Ninth Grade Academy. After being wounded, the boy ran to the ninth grade academy for help. According to the sheriff’s office, School Resource Officers met him outside the building and began rendering aid until medics arrived.
According to Habersham County Emergency Services Director Jeff Adams, the medical unit arrived on the scene three minutes after being dispatched.
Daniella Clawson has an office next to where the shooting occurred. She calls the entire incident “very scary.”
“I heard the first gunshot go off and new [sic] something was off because it was just one shot,” she says.
Clawson took to social media to tell of the quick response by emergency personnel. She says a SWAT team secured the perimeter behind her office and that K9 units were also on the scene. Uncertain about what was happening at the time, Clawson says she feared it might be a school shooting.
The incident at Central Alliance Church happened the day after a gunman opened fire inside an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 students and two teachers. Due to the already heightened tensions over school safety and the church’s proximity to the schools in Mt. Airy, officials placed the high school and ninth grade academy on lockdown. They also put Habersham County’s eleven other public schools on soft lockdown as a precaution.
“As soon as we became aware that there had been a possible shooting near the church in Mt. Airy, we placed all schools on a precautionary lockdown,” explains county school superintendent Matthew Cooper.
“This was a complete team response,” adds Habersham County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Kevin Angell. “Having the initial information that it was a shooting in the area of a school definitely put us all on alert and made sure that everybody was there and everybody did their job.”
Additionally, Cooper put out two robocalls to parents to inform them of what was happening.
“During events like this, I believe it is important to be as transparent as possible and to share as many facts as possible to keep rumors and panic from spreading,” he says. “Most importantly, I wanted parents to know that their students were safe, that the shooting did not take place at a school, and that we were taking the necessary precautions at our schools.”
Some parents criticized the move on social media saying a system-wide lockdown was unnecessary, but others praised the decision.
“I would like to say THANK YOU to our sheriff’s office and our school system for taking action and immediately locking down our schools! Time is of the essence in an unknown situation [like this],” says parent Heather Sheets.
Director Adams thanked the community, county staff, and partner agencies for working to ensure “a quick response time and professional service delivery” during and following the event. Habersham Central High School teacher Renee Morris also expressed her gratitude.
“I appreciate the clear communication from law enforcement and our administration. The drills and training work and I felt safe.”
As unfortunate as it is that such training is necessary, Deputy Angell says it’s the first line of defense in situations like this.
“It was not a school shooting, however, we treated it very much like it was. We put the schools on lockdown; we sent all of our resources there,” he says. “We do tabletop exercises just like this several times a year so that we’re prepared. We all came together because we’ve had that practice in advance.”
