Jurors heard opening statements Monday morning within the trial of Colin Gray, the father of {the teenager} who allegedly killed four people at his Georgia high school in 2024 – the newest case testing the boundaries of who’s accountable for a college taking pictures.
Gray, the father of Colt Gray, has pleaded not responsible to just about 30 prices, together with two counts every of second-degree homicide and involuntary manslaughter.
“This is not a case about holding parents accountable for what their children do. That’s not what this case is about,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith mentioned in his opening assertion. “This case is about this defendant and his actions – his actions in allowing a child that he has custody over access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that that child was going to harm others.”
Defense lawyer Brian Hobbs instructed jurors that Colin Gray can’t be held criminally accountable as a result of he was unaware that his son was allegedly planning the taking pictures.
“When someone conceals a plan, deceives the people around them, acts independently, the law does not allow us to pretend that the people left behind should’ve seen through all of it,” Hobbs mentioned.
The case stems from the taking pictures at Apalachee High School in September 2024, when then-14-year-old Colt Gray allegedly used an AR15-style rifle to kill two college students and two academics and injure 9 others. He finally surrendered to police and has admitted to the shooting, in line with authorities.
More than a 12 months earlier, law enforcement had questioned the teenager and his father about “online threats to commit a school shooting,” although no prices have been filed, authorities mentioned. Even so, Colin Gray purchased a firearm for his son as a Christmas current in December 2023 – the identical firearm he used within the mass taking pictures, in line with two law enforcement sources with direct information of the investigation.
Video: Police interview Georgia taking pictures suspect again in 2023
The indictment alleges Gray allowed his teenage son entry to a firearm and ammunition after receiving “sufficient warning” that his son would hurt and endanger others, actions that represent “criminal negligence” by “consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk.”
“Seven months after he was told by Jackson County Sheriff’s Office of possible school shooter threats and being asked to restrict Colt’s access to guns, the defendant buys and gives 13-year-old Colt that SIG Sauer M400 as his Christmas present,” Smith mentioned Monday.
Gray allowed his son to maintain the gun in his room regardless of a number of warning indicators that Colt Gray was starting to “spiral out of control,” Smith mentioned.
On Colt Gray’s first day at Apalachee High School in August 2024, he texted his father, “Whenever something happens, just know the blood is on your hands,” in line with Smith. Later that week, Colt Gray shoved his mom to the bottom when she tried to take the gun away and, individually, requested his father to purchase him 150 rounds of ammunition, Smith mentioned.
The protection, nonetheless, portrayed Colin Gray as an engaged father who was actively making an attempt to get his son psychological well being remedy.
Colt Gray was initially planning the assault for February 2025 to coincide with the seventh anniversary of the Parkland school shooting, Hobbs mentioned. But the teenager sped up the timeline as a result of of his father’s efforts to get him remedy, the protection lawyer mentioned. Colin Gray had arrange an appointment for his son to fulfill with psychological well being specialists on September 5, 2024, the day after the taking pictures, in line with Hobbs.
“The father was not ignoring the problem. Colin Gray was acting,” Hobbs mentioned.
Colin Gray’s trial is an element of a broader push to carry extra individuals accountable for a college taking pictures, together with the shooter’s parents and responding law enforcement officers.
This case bears shut similarities to the trials of James and Jennifer Crumbley, whose then-15-year-old son killed 4 college students in 2021 at his highschool in Oxford, Michigan. The Crumbley dad and mom have been every convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 to fifteen years in jail. Their son was sentenced to life in prison with out parole.
Colin Gray has remained behind bars since his arrest a day after the taking pictures. If convicted, he faces 10 to 30 years in jail on every homicide cost and 1 to 10 years on every manslaughter cost.
Colt Gray, now 16, has been indicted on 55 felony counts, together with 4 counts of malice homicide, in line with court docket paperwork. He has pleaded not responsible, though a protection lawyer final 12 months raised the chance he could change his plea. A trial date has not been set.
In Colin Gray’s case, the state has indicated it plans to hunt testimony from members of Gray’s household, taking pictures survivors and behavioral well being specialists. The trial is predicted to final about three weeks.
Testimony started Monday with witnesses from the varsity system and native legislation enforcement. The first, Lt. Barry Chandler with the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, mentioned the emergency alert system, which notified legislation enforcement of the taking pictures, was linked to the 911 system simply months earlier than the assault.
Prosecutors then known as Matt Thompson, a deputy superintendent for the Barrow County School System, who walked the court docket via excerpts of surveillance footage captured on a college bus and inside Apalachee High School.
Prosecutors briefly displayed video that appeared to point out Colt Gray holding a backpack with a big poster board protruding of it as he obtained on a college bus the morning of the taking pictures. In his opening assertion, Smith mentioned the teenager had wrapped a poster board across the half of the gun that caught out of his bag.
Prosecutors mentioned extra surveillance footage can be performed later within the trial.
The mass taking pictures at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, occurred the morning of September 4, 2024.
Colt left algebra class at 9:45 a.m., and gunshots have been quickly heard in a close-by classroom, a student told NCS on the time. The gun had been hidden in his backpack, authorities said.
The first report of an energetic shooter got here in round 10:20 a.m., authorities mentioned.
“I heard gunshots outside my classroom and people screaming, people begging not to get shot,” mentioned then-14-year-old scholar Macey Right. “And then people sitting beside me (were) just shaking and crying.”
A useful resource officer confronted the shooter, who instantly surrendered and was taken into custody, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith mentioned. The suspect instructed investigators, “I did it,” whereas being questioned, in line with Smith.
Investigators with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation allege the firearm used within the assault had been bought by his father regardless of an earlier concern from legislation enforcement in regards to the teen.
Colt Gray had been questioned by law enforcement in May 2023 concerning “several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time,” in line with a joint assertion from FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. The on-line threats included pictures of weapons, in line with the assertion.
Colt Gray denied making the threats on-line, the assertion mentioned. Jackson County alerted native colleges to proceed monitoring the problem, however legislation enforcement didn’t have possible trigger to arrest or take different actions, in line with the assertion.
Colin Gray instructed officers he had weapons in the home and his son had entry to them, video of the interview exhibits.
“We do a lot of shooting. We do a lot of deer hunting. He shot his first deer this year,” he mentioned. “I’m trying to teach him about firearms and safety and how to do it all and get him interested in the outdoors.”