Georgia school shooter Colt Gray and his father Colin on trial – as the family’s dark past is revealed

The father of the Georgia school shooter, Colt Gray, cried and rocked back and forth during his initial appearance in Barrow County Superior Court on Friday.

The hearing for Colin Gray came shortly after his 14-year-old son Colt learned that as a juvenile, he will not be sentenced to death for the murders of four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta, last Wednesday.

The teenager appeared in person in shackles, wearing a green T-shirt and gray sweatpants. He held his head down, his hair covering his face, and spoke quietly only to Judge Currie Mingledorff, answering “yes sir” when asked to confirm his name.

Meanwhile, his father, Colin Gray, 54, wept as he appeared in the same courtroom shortly after his son, charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Colin Gray shuffled in, dressed in a prison-issued striped shirt and tracksuit, handcuffed like his son. He called his name in a hoarse voice, confirming his age and indicating that he could read and write.

Georgia school shooter Colt Gray made his first court appearance Friday

Colin Gray, 54, appeared in the same courtroom shortly after his son, charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

He told the court that he had completed his education up to the 11th grade of high school and nodded as the proceedings took place.

The distraught father began to falter after Judge Mingledorff told him the maximum sentences he could receive. He is expected to appear in court on December 4.

The victims’ relatives stared at him throughout the hearing, as he kept his head bowed and avoided eye contact with anyone except the judge.

Dozens of emotional family members filled the courtroom for both of Gray’s initial appearances, with some visibly weeping before the hearing even began. Some wore sunglasses to cover their faces and were supported in the courtroom by detectives.

Relatives of both father and son did not appear to support them in court.

Judge Mingledorff advised the elder Gray that he could receive a maximum of 30 years in prison for each charge of murder, 10 years for each charge of involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children – the maximum being 180 years.

Gray was arrested Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, minutes after authorities say he opened fire on students and teachers, killing four. Colt allegedly told police, “I did it” as he was read his Miranda rights.

His father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, is accused of buying his 14-year-old son Colt the AR-15-style rifle the boy used. He was arrested Thursday on suspicion of second-degree murder, manslaughter and cruelty to children.

Colt Gray’s attorney has not requested bail for the teen.

The teenager looked down at his feet as he entered the courtroom and looked directly at the judge as he spoke during the brief eight-minute hearing.

Judge Mingledorff recalled Gray to correct a ruling he made, saying, “I wanted to make it clear to you that the sentence does not include the death penalty. It includes life without the possibility of parole or with the possibility of parole.”

A 2005 Supreme Court ruling prohibits the execution of offenders who were under 18 when their crimes were committed.

The teen’s father was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting, including charges of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder, said Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

“His charges are directly related to his son’s actions and the fact that he allowed him to possess a gun,” Hosey said.

Marcee, 43, has a criminal record in four Georgia counties that includes drug use, domestic violence and property damage, as well as civil claims for fraud

Colt Gray was arrested Wednesday, minutes after authorities say he opened fire on students and teachers, killing four. Colt allegedly told police, “I did it” when he was read his Miranda rights.

Public records show that Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, has a criminal record dating back to 2007 and was jailed as recently as April of this year. She was banned from having contact with her father, Colin, without third-party intervention.

Marcee, 43, has a criminal record in four Georgia counties that includes drug charges, domestic violence and property damage, as well as civil fraud claims.

The family’s home was searched on Wednesday afternoon, with FBI investigators seizing firearms and evidence.

Neighbors saw Colin return to his home Wednesday night, but it is unclear whether he turned himself in to authorities.

A neighbour told DailyMail.com they were ‘terrified’ by the new charges, adding that the family had ‘kept aloof’ and had not integrated into the community in the two years they had lived at the property.

The teen denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities questioned him last year about a threatening social media post, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday.

Conflicting evidence about the origin of the mail prevented investigators from making an arrest, the report said. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the May 2023 report and found nothing that would have warranted charges at the time.

Teacher Richard Aspinwall was named as one of the four victims of the shooting. Christina Irimie was also identified as a victim

Mason Schermerhorn, 14, an autistic student at Apalachee High School, was the first victim to be identified. Christian Angulo, 14, also lost his life in the senseless shooting

The teen was questioned after the sheriff received a tip from the FBI that Gray, then 13, “may have threatened to shoot up a high school tomorrow.” The threat was made on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers, according to the sheriff’s office incident report.

The FBI tip pointed to a Discord account linked to an email address associated with Colt Gray, the report said. But the boy “said he would never say something like that, even as a joke,” the investigator’s report said.

The transcript of the interview states that the teenager said, “I promise I will never say anything that…” while the rest of that denial is unintelligible.

The investigator wrote that no arrests were made due to “inconsistent information” on the Discord account. The account contained profile information in Russian and there was a digital evidence trail showing the account was opened in several cities in Georgia and Buffalo, New York.

Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the May 2023 report and found nothing that would warrant charges at the time.

“We made absolutely no mistake in this,” Mangum told The Associated Press in an interview. “We did everything we could do with what we had at the time.”

According to agents, the Discord account had a username in Russian and the letters translated to the name Lanza, a reference to Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

Gray denied being the author of the threats and told police he had shut down his Discord after being hacked repeatedly. He expressed concern that someone would make such accusations about him.

“He knows how dangerous guns are, what they can do and what not to use them,” the father, Colin Gray, said, according to a transcript obtained by the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s investigators closed the case because they could not prove Gray had any connection to the Discord account and found no grounds to seek a court order to seize the family’s guns, according to police reports released by the sheriff’s office on Thursday.

The boy is said to be obsessed with other notorious school shooters, such as Nikolas Cruz, the killer from Parkland, Florida.