September 6, 2024
Here’s What We Know About 14-Year-Old Georgia School Shooter Colt Gray
Hope these kids find peace....
More than 48 hours after the horrific shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, the world is learning more about shooter Colt Gray, WSBTV reported.
The 14-year-old student killed four people, two students, and two teachers, and injured nine others when he opened fire on Sept. 4. During a press conference. Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said shortly after Gray opened fire, a school resource officer approached him. He then got on the ground and surrendered. He was then taken into custody almost instantly, without incident.
The sheriff said the shooter allegedly told authorities he realized that if he didn’t give himself up, he would have been shot. Investigators are still working through identifying how Gray got the weapon inside the school.
While being held at a Department of Juvenile Justice facility, authorities found that Gray had been on the FBI’s watch list since 2023. The agency received a tip when the minor allegedly made threats of a shooting online. After the FBI questioned him and his father, Colin Gray, the minor denied the act, and authorities found no plausible cause to arrest him.
According to The New York Post, the teen suspect, who is being charged as an adult with four counts of murder for the deaths of Mason Schermerhorn, Christian Angulo, Richard Aspinwall, and Christina Irimie, is scheduled to make his first court appearance at a Barrow County courthouse. Investigators said Gray allegedly told investigators, “I did it,” as soon as he was arrested. His court appearance came just hours after his father was arrested and charged with ties to the shooting, including allegedly gifting the minor the AR-style weapon for Christmas in 2023.
His father once told police that he allegedly kept hunting guns in the house, but claimed his son did not have access to them. Authorities encouraged the father to keep the firearms under lock and key and out of the child’s reach. Law enforcement also advised for Colt to be kept out of school “until this matter could be resolved.”
In a clip circulating on X, a fellow student told reporters that Colt was quiet and rarely came to class. “He never really talked. He was pretty quiet. He wasn’t there most times,” Lyela Sayarath said. “Either he wouldn’t come to school, or he would just skip class, but even when he would have talked, it was one-word answers or just short statements.”
The reporter then said Sayarath told her off-camera that she wasn’t surprised by Colt’s actions and asked why she would say that. The student explained that Colt fits the stereotype of a school shooter. “Just because when you think of shooters or how they act, things that they do, it’s usually the quiet kid,” she said.
“That’s a stereotype for it to be and he was the one who fit that description in our class.”
During a search of the Gray home, authorities uncovered documents hidden in the shooter’s bedroom detailing his alleged obsession with other school shootings, such as the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
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