BARROW COUNTY, Ga. (Court TV/Scripps News) — The father and son charged in connection with a deadly school shooting this week appeared before a judge on Friday morning.
(L) Colt Gray, (R) Colin Gray (Barrow County Sheriff’s Office)
Colt Gray, 14, was arraigned on four counts of felony murder, two days after being taken into custody for the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. The maximum penalty for each count is punishable by death, life without parole, or life with the possibility of parole. Despite his age, he is being charged as an adult.
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Colin Gray, 54, was arraigned on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. The maximum penalty for all the charges is 180 years in prison.
Colt and Colin both declined to seek bail.
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Colin was charged on Thursday after investigators said that he gifted the military-style assault rifle used in the shooting to his son for Christmas.
“These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son Colt to possess a weapon,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said at a press conference Thursday evening.
In addition to four killed, nine others were wounded in the incident.
Authorities on Thursday said several people were still hospitalized following the shooting. All are expected to make a full recovery and will be able to leave the hospital.
In 2023, Colin Gray told a Jackson County Sheriff’s investigator that his son was dealing with bullying at school and had struggled after his parents separated. According to interview transcripts, Gray said his son, who was familiar with guns and hunting, “knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do, and how to use them and not use them.”
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The teen denied making online threats of a shooting when authorities interviewed him in 2023.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said nothing had justified bringing charges against either the teen or his father in 2023.
“We did not drop the ball at all on this,” Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum told The Associated Press. “We did all we could do with what we had at the time.”
