WINDER, Ga. – The 14-year-old accused in the shooting at a Georgia high school that killed four people and rocked a rural community outside Atlanta is expected to appear before a judge Friday morning as his father faces multiple charges in connection with the attack.
Officials say the suspect, Colt Gray, brought an AR-style weapon to Apalachee High School and opened fire, fatally shooting two math teachers and two 14-year-old students. Eight other students and one teacher were injured and are expected make a full recovery.
The suspect, who surrendered after being confronted by law enforcement, has been charged with four counts of felony murder and his first appearance is slated for 8:30 a.m. at the Barrow County Courthouse.
Authorities on Thursday took the suspect’s father, Colin Gray, 54, into custody on multiple charges in connection with the attack, including involuntary manslaughter and two counts of second-degree murder – marking the latest case in which parents face criminal legal action for shootings carried out by their children.
“These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference Thursday night. It’s unclear whether the father and son yet have legal representation.
The attack occurred just over a month into the school year and has plunged the city of Winder, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, into a state of mourning as students, parents and residents alike grapple with the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in over a year.
In the days since the shooting, friends and family members have shared loving words about the four victims killed during the attack, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and math teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
Aspinwall, who was the defensive coordinator for the Apalachee High School football team, was described by Head coach Mike Hancock as a “great dad, man, and a great father.”
“He loved his two girls and he loved his wife,” Hancock said. “He did happen to love the game of football and he was well respected around this area.”
Irimie was described by students as a caring and patient teacher. Pastors and friends told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution that she always embraced her Romanian roots and was active in the expat community.
Angulo’s older sister, Lisette, remembered him as “very sweet and so caring,” according to a GoFundMe page for his funeral services. “He was so loved by many. His loss was so sudden and unexpected,” Lisette Angulo wrote of her brother. “We are truly heartbroken.”
Schermerhorn was described his people who knew him as a friendly teenager who enjoyed reading, playing video games and visiting Walt Disney World, The New York Times reported.
An aunt of the suspected shooter who killed four people at Apalachee High School told The Washington Post that her nephew had struggled with his mental health and “was begging for help from everybody around him” in the months before the shooting.
“The adults around him failed him,” the aunt, Annie Brown, told the outlet.
Brown, who lives in Central Florida, said she expressed concern over her nephew’s access to a gun through texts to another relative, the Post reported. She also said the suspect’s grandmother went to his school to seek help from a counselor.
A week before the shooting, the grandmother wrote in a text that her grandson “starts with the therapist tomorrow,” according to The Post.
A 15-year-old student was arrested Wednesday after investigators said the teenager referred to the Apalachee High School shooting and pledged to “finish the job to shoot another school in Jackson County.”
Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said Thursday that the threat was made on a school bus. She said there were witnesses to the threat and the teen was located and brought to the sheriff’s office for interviews.
Afterward, the teenager was charged and was placed in the Regional Youth Detention Center in Gainesville, the same facility where the suspect in the Apalachee High shooting is being held.
Contributing: Thao Nguyen, Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY; Ryne Dennis, Wayne Ford, Athens Banner-Herald