There are two individuals responsible for the mass capturing at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on September 4, 2024, a Barrow County prosecutor mentioned in courtroom Monday.
One is Colt Gray, the then-14-year-old who used an AR-15-style rifle to kill two academics and two college students and wound 9 others.
The different is his father, Colin Gray, who prosecutors argue allowed his son entry to the firearm and ammunition regardless of receiving adequate warnings of his hazard to others. Those actions represent a “conscious disregard for a substantial and unjustifiable risk” and “criminal negligence,” prosecutor Patricia Brooks mentioned, asking the jury to seek out the father responsible of homicide and manslaughter.
“That man was the one person who could have prevented this mass shooting. He was the one man who ensured that Colt Gray had the tools he needed to commit mass murder,” Brooks mentioned in closing arguments Monday. “That man and his son are both responsible for the immense suffering that occurred on September 4. The blood is on their hands.”
In distinction, the protection put the blame on the lone shooter, saying the teen was “smart” and “manipulative” and stored secrets and techniques from his father about his violent intentions. Colin Gray was doing his greatest to make his three kids joyful and didn’t have “sufficient warning” his oldest son, Colt, was a danger, legal professional Jimmy Berry argued.
“He never in a million years thought that this son that he loved was going to turn out to be a monster that killed these people,” Berry mentioned.
Video reveals Colt Gray’s actions round school earlier than lethal capturing
NCS’s Isabel Rosales reviews on the newest from the trial of Colin Gray, who prosecutors say bears duty for the lethal 2024 capturing allegedly carried out by his son at the teen’s Georgia excessive school. On Thursday, Jurors watched video exhibiting the shooter’s actions inside the school on the day of the attack. Colin Gray has pleaded not responsible to almost 30 expenses, together with two counts every of second-degree homicide and involuntary manslaughter.
The closing arguments come after a two-week trial that has targeted on what Colin Gray knew about his son main as much as the mass capturing at Apalachee High. The jury is anticipated to start deliberations Tuesday morning.
He has pleaded not responsible to greater than 25 expenses, together with two counts every of second-degree homicide and involuntary manslaughter. The jury can even take into account lesser expenses of manslaughter if they can not attain a verdict on the homicide counts, the choose mentioned.
The trial is a part of a broader push to carry extra individuals accountable for a school capturing, together with the shooter’s parents and responding law enforcement officers. This case bears shut similarities to the trials and convictions of James and Jennifer Crumbley, whose then-15-year-old son killed 4 college students in 2021 at his excessive school in Oxford, Michigan.
Colt Gray has admitted to the shooting, in accordance with authorities. Now 16, he has pleaded not responsible to 55 felony counts, together with 4 counts of malice homicide. A trial date has not been set.
In the prosecution’s closing rebuttal in courtroom Monday, Brooks dug into the particulars of the case and accused Colin Gray of being a liar, a narcissist and a foul mum or dad.
“Do not give the defendant one more day to peddle his made-up excuses for why he did nothing to stop this tragedy,” she mentioned. “Do not give the defendant one more minute by listening to his lies about how he did everything he could. Do not give him one more second of not being held responsible for what happened on September 4th.”
The state offered its case over about two weeks, together with emotional testimony from college students and academics who survived the capturing, policeinterviews with Colin Gray, photographs exhibiting unsecured firearms and ammo in a bed room closet, and testimony from the teen’s mom, grandmother and sister about Colt’s spiraling psychological well being.
Marcee Gray, the defendant’s estranged spouse who struggled with drug and alcohol dependancy, testified their son was riddled with nervousness, simply agitated and had panic assaults. She mentioned it was “very obvious” he wanted skilled assist, however her husband “just didn’t want to deal with it.”
Notably, the jury noticed body-camera footage from May 21, 2023, when deputies with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office visited Colt and Colin Gray’s house after receiving an FBI tip about an online threat to shoot up a school. Colt denied posting the risk, and regulation enforcement was finally not capable of substantiate the tip. Colin Gray purchased his son the AR-15-style rifle later that 12 months.
Video: Police interview Georgia capturing suspect again in 2023
The protection known as only one witness: Colin Gray himself. He testified he purchased his son the firearm and ammunition in an try to get him fascinated about the outdoor and for father-son bonding. He additionally mentioned he had scheduled counseling at school for Colt’s psychological well being points and didn’t ever understand his son was a risk.
“He’s a good kid,” the father mentioned by way of tears. “He wasn’t perfect, nor was I, but to do something that heinous, I don’t know that anybody can see that kind of evil. The Colt I knew, the relationship I had, there was this whole other side of Colt I didn’t know existed.”
In a tense cross-examination, Colin Gray acknowledged a number of firearms had been saved in a closet, unsecured and unlocked, and he mentioned Colt typically stored the AR-15-style rifle in his bed room. He struggled to clarify Colt’s lack of school attendance his whole eighth grade school 12 months, per school information.
And he admitted he was conscious his son had been bodily violent and had texted a couple of weeks earlier than the attack, “Whenever something happens just know the blood is on your hands.” Further, prosecutors argued Colin Gray knew Colt Gray had a “shrine” of photographs of Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland, Florida, excessive school shooter, pinned to his bed room wall.
The jury watched harrowing surveillance video exhibiting Colt Gray’s actions the morning of the school capturing. School officers and useful resource officers had gone to intercept Colt Gray after he made a number of regarding feedback that morning, however in a stranger-than-fiction mix-up, they confused him with one other pupil named Kolton Gray.
Colt Gray then armed himself with the rifle – which he had dropped at school hidden in his backpack – fired indiscriminately right into a math class and shot a number of individuals in the hallway. Teachers Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie and college students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo had been killed.