Accused school shooter Colt Gray ‘ridiculed’ by classmates, father claimed
The three words an alleged teen gunman reportedly told police after four people were killed have been revealed as new details emerge about his life.
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Alleged US school shooter Colt Gray reportedly made a chilling admission to investigators after the deaths of four people in the country’s latest mass killing, according to authorities.
The 14-year-old surrendered to police before telling them “I did it”, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told CNN on Thursday local time.
The teenager has been charged with four counts of felony murder after he allegedly opened fire at a Georgia, Atlanta school on Wednesday.
Four people – two teachers and two students – were killed and nine people were injured in the alleged attack at Apalachee High School in Winder.
Colt’s father, Colin Gray, was also charged with murder and manslaughter offences after admitting he bought the rifle his son allegedly used in the killings.
The AR-15 was given to Colt as a Christmas present, according to reports in the US.
Details have emerged about a previous investigation into the teen gunman, whose father claimed last year was constantly “ridiculed” by classmates who called him “gay”.
These claims were contained in a transcript of a 2023 police probe into the teenager’s behaviour released to the media.
The FBI had been tipped off that Colt, then 13, allegedly threatened to shoot up a middle school on the messaging platform Discord, according to the New York Post.
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office officers visited the Gray home and interviewed the boy and his father, who said his son was being bullied.
In the meeting Mr Gray asked police to “instil in him that whatever this is … this is no joke”. “But we wouldn’t be here if it was,” one officer responded.
Mr Gray said he didn’t want anything to happen to his son, and referenced: “All the school shootings, things that happen”.
Officers later followed up with a phone call during which Mr Gray opened up about his son’s struggles.
“I don’t want him to fight anybody, but they just keep like pinching him and touching him and that’s a whole different deal,” Colin Gray told investigators in the call.
“He wants to move out of the school district. He’s going through a lot … he just wants us to have a simple life.”
Mr Gray told the officers it was “very difficult” for his son to go to school and “not get picked on”.
“I was trying to get him on the golf team. Like, ‘Oh look Colt’s gay’. ‘He’s dating that guy’,” the 54-year-old claimed classmates said.
“Just ridiculed him day after day after day. And then y’all show up and he’s he just like just really weighing on him.”
Hunting trip video emerges
New footage of Colt hunting with his AR-15 rifle, complete with blood on his face, has also been uncovered as details of the alleged killer’s life come to light.
The Daily Mail reports the video posted to TikTok showed Colt in hunting gear and smiling to the camera while holding his gun.
It also shows a dead deer believed to have been shot during the hunting trip to woodland in Georgia.
“Go ahead and lay your rifle down on it, barrel up so you don’t get mud in the barrel, gun down like we had for the picture,” the teen’s dad can be heard saying in the clip.
“Remember it’s still loaded. Beautiful, lean down there and hold that head up let me see what you got this morning.
“On your first ever deer hunt big old giant three pointer amazing look at that, son, what a hell of a shot. Yes sir.”
Colin Gray later told investigators he had been teaching his son to hunt and described the trip as “the greatest day ever”, the Mail reports.
“We do a lot of shooting. We do a lot of deer hunting. He shot his first deer this year,” Mr Gray told investigators in the interview last year.
Mr Gray also spoke of how he introduced his son to weapons, first with a hunting bow, then a pellet gun, “then it was a 22”.
First court appearances
Authorities have said Colt surrendered “immediately” at the school on Wednesday and alleged he made admissions to the crimes.
His father was then charged the next day with offences carrying 180 years in prison.
The father and son appeared back-to-back at the Barrow County Courthouse on Friday morning, US time.
Judge Currie Mingledorff read out the charges and rights to the thin, dyed-blond-haired boy, who was dressed in a green shirt and khaki trousers, with shackles at the wrists and ankles.
Judge Mingledorff told the boy his charges were punishable by death, before later correcting himself and saying he would not be eligible for the death penalty because he is a juvenile.
The maximum penalty is life in prison without parole.
His father appeared before the same judge shortly afterwards, dressed in a black and white striped prison uniform and rocking back and forth nervously at the defendant’s table.
He faces involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder charges.
Earlier this year, the parents of another teenage school shooter were convicted of manslaughter charges, but Mr Gray is believed to be the first parent to be charged with murder over a shooting carried out by their child.
The Grays’ lawyers declined to seek bond and they will remain behind bars.
– with AFP.
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