Georgia school shooter Colt Gray made his first court appearance on Friday – a day after his father was also arrested for allowing his son to have a weapon.
The 14-year-old is accused of using a semiautomatic assault-style rifle to kill two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta, on Wednesday.
His father, Colin Gray, 53, is set to appear shortly after his son in the same courtroom, charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two of second degree murder and eight of cruelty to children.
The teen appeared in person at Barrow County Superior Court in shackles, dressed in a green t-shirt and grey sweat pants. He was handcuffed in front of his body and looked down, with his hair covering his face, throughout the hearing.
He spoke softly only to Judge Mingledorff, replying ‘yes sir’ when asked to confirm his name, that he could read and write, and he had a right to an attorney.
Georgia school shooter Colt Gray made his first court appearance on Friday. The teen looked down and his hair covered his face during the hearing
Gray was arrested on Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, minutes after authorities say he opened fire on students and teachers, killing four. Colt reportedly told police ‘I did it’ when read his Miranda rights
Dozens of emotional family members packed the courtroom for both Grays first appearances, with some visibly crying before the hearing even began.
Some wore sunglasses to cover their faces, and were supported by detectives in the court room.
The teenager is being represented by Zain Harman, and was warned that he could face the death penalty for the charges.
Family members for both father and son did not appear to be supporting them in the courtroom.
Gray looked down at his feet as he entered the court, staring straight at the judge as he spoke during the short 8-minute hearing.
His father will received alternative counsel to his son, following his arrest on Thursday afternoon.
His father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, is accused of buying his 14-year-old son Colt the AR-15-style rifle the boy used and was arrested Thursday on several counts of second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children
It comes after the teen surrendered immediately to officers who confronted him during the violent rampage, which authorities suspect he had been planning for years.
The teen’s fathe was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting, including with counts of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey.
‘His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,’ Hosey said. Colin Gray’s first court appearance has not been set.
Gray was arrested on Wednesday minutes after authorities say he opened fire on students and teachers, killing four. Colt reportedly told police ‘I did it’ when read his Miranda rights.
Public records show that Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, has a criminal record dating back to 2007 and spent time in jail as recently as this past April and was banned from contacting father Colin without a third party intermediary.
Marcee, 43, has a record across four Georgia counties and includes drug use, domestic violence and property damage, as well as civil claims of fraud.
The family home was raided on Wednesday afternoon, with FBI investigators seizing firearms and evidence.
Marcee, 43, has a record across four Georgia counties and includes drug use, domestic violence and property damage, as well as civil claims of fraud
Neighbors saw Colin return to the family home on Wednesday evening, though it is unclear if he handed himself into authorities.
A neighbor told DailyMail.com that they were ‘terrified’ following the new charges, adding that the family had ‘kept themselves to themselves’ and not integrated with the community in their two years at the property.
The teen denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities interviewed him last year about a menacing post on social media, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday.
Conflicting evidence on the post’s origin left investigators unable to arrest anyone, the report said. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the report from May 2023 and found nothing that would have justified bringing charges at the time.
Teacher Richard Aspinwall was named as one of the four victims of the shooting. Christina Irimie was also identified as a victim
Mason Schermerhorn, 14, an autistic student at Apalachee High School, was the first victim to be identified. Christian Angulo, 14, also lost his life in the senseless shooting
The teen was interviewed after the sheriff received a tip from the FBI that Gray, then 13, ‘had possibly threatened to shoot up a middle school tomorrow.’ The threat was made on Discord, a social media platform popular with video gamers, according to the sheriff’s office incident report.
The FBI’s tip pointed to a Discord account associated with an email address linked to Colt Gray, the report said. But the boy said ‘he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,’ according to the investigator’s report.
The interview transcript quotes the teen as saying: ‘I promise I would never say something where …’ with the rest of that denial listed as inaudible.
The investigator wrote that no arrests were made because of ‘inconsistent information’ on the Discord account, which had profile information in Russian and a digital evidence trail indicating it had been accessed in different Georgia cities as well as Buffalo, New York.
Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the report from May 2023 and found nothing that would have justified bringing charges at the time.
‘We did not drop the ball at all on this,’ Mangum told The Associated Press in an interview. ‘We did all we could do with what we had at the time.’
The Discord account had a user name written in Russian, and the translation of the letters spelled out the name Lanza, referencing Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary school tragedy, officers said.
Gray denied he was the author of the threats, telling police he’d shut down his Discord after being repeatedly hacked. He expressed concerns that someone would make those accusations about him.
‘He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do, and how to use them and not use them,’ the father, Colin Gray, said according to a transcript obtained from the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s investigators closed the case after being unable to substantiate that either Gray was connected to the Discord account, and did not find grounds to seek the needed court order to confiscate the family’s guns, according to police reports released by the sheriff’s office on Thursday.
The boy reportedly had an obsession with other infamous school shooters such as Parkland, Florida killer Nikolas Cruz.