The 14-year-old suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia appeared in court Friday for the first time after being charged with four counts of felony murder. His father, who authorities say provided the teen with a gun, made his court appearance minutes later to face charges that include second-degree murder.
The teen, Colt Gray, will be prosecuted as an adult. But he will not face the death penalty because he is a minor and instead will face a maximum penalty of life with or without the possibility of parole. He did not enter a plea Friday. He is being held without bond at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center.
His father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, appeared in court shortly after. He faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. Those charges carry a total of up to 180 years in prison.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Thursday that Colin Gray had been arrested on charges of “knowingly allowing” his son to possess a weapon. Two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News that the father had bought his teen son an AR-15-style rifle as a present, after both of them were interviewed by law enforcement officials in May 2023 in connection with online threats made about a school shooting. The teen was enrolled at Jefferson Middle School in Jackson County at the time, NBC News reported, citing investigative documents. Local authorities ultimately could not connect him to a Discord account that made those threats and did not arrest him, according to those documents.
Investigators have said the teen used an “AR platform-style weapon” in the shooting, though it’s unclear if it is the same gun his father had gifted him. The teen had shown interest in prior mass shootings, particularly the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News.
Four people were killed in the shooting Wednesday: two 14-year-old students, Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie. Nine others were injured and are expected to recover, officials said.
Angulo’s older sister, Lisette Angulo, wrote in a GoFundMe for his funeral expenses that he was “a very good kid and very sweet and so caring.”
Schermerhorn had only recently started at Apalachee High School, according to The New York Times. He and his family had been looking forward to an upcoming trip to Walt Disney World, one of his favorite places, his mother’s friend told the Times.
Aspinwall, 39, was a math teacher and football coach at the school. One of his students told NBC’s “TODAY” show that he was “a really kind-hearted man.” Aspinwall had two young daughters, the Times reported.
Irimie, a Romanian immigrant in her 50s, had baked a cake for her belated birthday celebration with her math students on the day she was killed, her friend told CNN. She was active in the local Romanian community and volunteered at church.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told reporters Thursday that the shooting suspect was new to Barrow County schools. He just enrolled two weeks ago, Smith said, and Wednesday was his first full day of school at Apalachee High.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
