It does change the story. “He” excludes 50% of potential perpetrators. Using “they” does not.
Excerpted from the Oxford English Dictionary (the full entry being far too long for a comment here):
he, pron., n.1, and adj.
A. pron. The subjective case of the masculine third person singular pronoun.
I. As personal pronoun.
...
2.
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b. In anaphoric reference to a singular noun or pronoun of undetermined gender. Cf. they pron. 2.