6 September 2024, 19:32
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Alamy
The 14-year-old accused of killing four people in a shooting at a Georgia high school will stay in detention after his lawyer declined to seek bail at a court hearing on Friday.
Colt Gray is accused of using a semiautomatic assault-style rifle to kill two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta.
He appeared in court on Friday wearing khaki trousers and a green shirt after being accused of killing students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and 53-year-old Christina Irimie.
The hearing came a day after his father, Colin, was also arrested for allowing his son to have a weapon.
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Colin Gray’s hearing on Friday came shortly after the court appearance for his son. He will remain jailed without bail.
Colt Gray was escorted from the court in shackles, he will remain detained until his sentencing.
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Alamy
The judge then called him back to the courtroom to correct an earlier misstatement that his crimes could be punishable by death. Because he is a juvenile, the maximum penalty he would face is life without parole.
The judge also set another hearing for December 4.
Nine people were also hurt in Wednesday’s attack. Authorities have not offered any motive or explained how Colt Gray obtained the gun or got it into the school.
Colin Gray, 54, was charged on Thursday in connection with the shooting, including with counts of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder, Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Chris Hosey said.
Speaking at a press conference, GBI Director Chris Hosey confirmed that the charges stemmed from him “knowingly allowing” his son to have access to the rifle.
It comes after authorities charged 14-year-old student Colt Gray as an adult with murder.
The dad allegedly bought his son an assault rifle for Christmas – just months after having received a visit from the FBI.
“His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Mr Hosey said.
It was revealed on Thursday that the suspect was known to the FBI a year before over threats of a similar attack.
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Getty
In a statement, the FBI said it had alerted local authorities in May 2023, after it received anonymous tips about “online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time”.
It was determined within 24 hours that the threat was in Georgia.
Local police interviewed the boy and his father, who said he “had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them”.
The suspect, who was 13 at the time, denied making online threats.
“At the time, there was no probable cause for an arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state or federal levels,” the FBI said.