Georgia school shooting: Colt Gray appeared in court as more charges planned against suspect, DA says
Apalachee High School shooting suspect and his father Colin Gray both appeared in a Georgia courthouse this morning
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Georgia school mass shooting suspect Colt Gray and his father Colin Gray faced a judge Friday at the Barrow County Courthouse in Georgia for their arraignment.
Judge Currie Mingledorff II told the Apalachee High School shooting suspect that he could face life in prison if convicted on any of the four felony murder counts held against him. The 14-year-old is being tried as an adult, however, the judge ruled out the possibility of a death sentence due to being younger than 18.
Colin Gray, 54, who faced Judge Mingledorff in the same courtroom about 45 minutes after his son, was told he could be sentenced up to 180 years in prison. The dad faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Colt Gray is accused of opening fire on staff and students at Apalachee High School in Winder with an AR-style rifle, resulting in the deaths of two 14-year-old pupils and two teachers on Wednesday.
His father allegedly bought the semi-automatic weapon for his son as a Christmas present.
FBI audio reveals Colt Gray’s dad was ‘p***** off with son’ over alleged 2023 threat of ‘shooting up’ school
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First court appearance set for Georgia teen accused of killing 4 at his high school
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Georgia shooting suspect’s aunt reveals new details about Gray family
As police continue to investigate yesterday’s mass shooting at a Georgia high school, a family member of Colt Gray is providing new insights into the 14-year-old’s home life.
Annie Polhamus Brown spoke with The Independent about her older sister Marcee Polhamus Gray and Marcee’s estranged husband Colin Gray.
Learn more in Justin Rohrlich’s full story.
Georgia school suspect’s aunt breaks silence: ‘Hearts and humble prayers’
EXCLUSIVE: Annie Polhamus Brown told The Independent that her thoughts right now are focused on “the families affected by this devastating tragedy.”
ICYMI: What the Gray family told police during 2023 shooting threat inquiry
In May of 2023, the FBI got a tip about online threats on the app Discord regarding a school shooting. It traced the threats to Georgia and forwarded information to the Jackson County Sheriffs’ Office, which interviewed the Gray family.
Colin Gray, the Georgia shooting suspect’s father, said he kept hunting guns in the house, but that Colt did not have unsupervised access to them. Colt, meanwhile, denied making the online threats.
“Colt expressed concern that someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” according to a police report obtained by The Independent.
Gray also told deputies that “he stopped using Discord because too many people kept hacking his account and he was afraid someone would use his information for nefarious purposes.”
During the interview with the Grays, a deputy openly mused about the stakes of the 2023 investigation, saying, “God forbid” if the online threats turned into an actual shooting, according to audio of the interview obtained by CNN.
Further investigation of Colt’s Discord page showed he made the account after he said he’d deleted it, and used a Russian username that “spells out the name Lanza, referring to Adam Lanza, who is the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooter in Newton, Conn.,” per the report.
Police notified local schools and no probable cause for an arrest was found at the time, according to the FBI.
Read Rhian Lubin’s story for more information.
Colt Gray told cops he would never shoot up a school during threat investigation
Colt Gray, the teen suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting in Winder, and his father were interviewed by police in 2023 over online threats to commit a school shooting, the FBI said
In pictures: Community mourns Apalachee students, teachers
Georgia gun laws explained after four die in school shooting
Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, is the latest school across the US to experience a mass shooting as part of the country’s gun violence epidemic, with four killed and scores injured on Wednesday morning.
Apalachee student Colt Gray, 14, has been named as the suspected shooter, and is alive and in custody, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The shooting has prompted scrutiny of Georgia’s gun laws.
Read more:
Georgia gun laws explained as four die in school shooting
Georgia prevents minors from owning guns, but has few restrictions for adults seeking to carry
Watch: Georgia student describes moment suspected shooter asked to be let into classroom
‘Schools are supposed to be a safe place’: Friends remember beloved teachers gunned down in Georgia school
Ricky Aspinwall went by many titles — football coach, math teacher, father, husband, father — and after the Apalachee High School shooting, he was tragically given another: victim.
“[This shooting] makes every educator in the country more anxious because schools are supposed to be a safe place,” his best friend and fellow educator Nick Bach told The Independent.
Read more:
Friends remember teachers gunned down in Georgia school hallway
EXCLUSIVE: A relative of math teacher Cristina Irimie told The Independent that she considered her students her children: ‘To have one of her ‘own’ take her life is the most shocking thing to all this’
Harris slams JD Vance for declaring school shootings are ‘fact of life’
Watch: Police question Colt Gray and his father about threats against school in 2023
Exclusive details: Colt Gray’s aunt ‘eager’ to share potential motives behind Georgia school shooting
The aunt of suspected Georgia school shooter Annie Polhamus Brown has lamented the loss of the four men and women who lost their lives, allegedly at the hands of her nephew Colt Gray.
“Our hearts and humble prayers are with the families affected by this devastating tragedy,” Brown told The Independent’s Justin Rohrlich on Thursday evening.
Brown, who lives in Florida, said that she is “eager” to share her thoughts about what might have prompted the shooting suspect to allegedly gun down students and staff at Apalachee High School.
However, “it will not be at this time,” Brown said.
Gray’s motives are still under investigation, authorities said.
Apalachee High School remembers deceased staff and students in Facebook memorial post
Apalachee High School and public school district Barrow County Schools have spoken out following the devastating shooting which took place at the Winder, Georgia, institution on Wednesday.
Headshots of the four victims - students Christian, 14, and Mason Schermerhorn, 14; and teachers Cristina Irimie, 53, Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39 - were the posted on Facebook Thursday evening. It marks the school’s first social media post since the attack.
“Richard Aspinwall. Cristina Irimie. Mason Schermerhorn. Christian Angulo. The Barrow County School System and the broader Barrow Community have tragically lost two cherished students and two beloved teachers,” the post read. “Right now, we are focusing on those injured, hurting, and grieving while we unite as a community to support one another.”
It continued: “We are here for our students, families, and staff. In Barrow County, we strive to be Barrow BOLD, meaning we ask our students and staff to be courageous in all they do each day. We cannot thank the community and the entire State of Georgia enough for the outpouring of support we have received.”
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