Trial begins for Apalachee High School shooting suspect’s father

In opening statements on Monday, prosecutors made the case that the Georgia man whose teenage son is accused of carrying out the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history more than a year ago is also responsible for the attack. The shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, left students Christian Angulo and Mason […]

Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on September 6, 2024, in Winder, Georgia. Colin Gray is being charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and cruelty to children after his son opened fire and killed 4 at the high school on Wednesday. (Photo by Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images)

In opening statements on Monday, prosecutors made the case that the Georgia man whose teenage son is accused of carrying out the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history more than a year ago is also responsible for the attack.

The shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, left students Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie dead and several others injured.

The father, Colin Gray, faces 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and numerous counts of second-degree cruelty to children. He has pleaded not guilty, as has his son, Colt Gray, who faces 55 counts.

Around the country, more and more prosecutors are trying to hold parents accountable after their children are charged with carrying out a mass shooting.

But, prosecutors in the Georgia case told the jury that’s not what’s happening here, and that the elder Gray is on trial because of his own actions after “receiving sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger the bodily safety of another.”

Prosecutors argue the father knew his son was having panic attacks, struggling to manage his “intense anger” toward him and becoming increasingly more violent, and that things had taken a turn for the worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is when the teen began spending a lot of time at home on the computer.

About two years before the shooting, the teen had allegedly looked up “abuse” and “how to kill your dad” on the Internet, leading to a child welfare case to be opened. However, prosecutors said Colt Gray’s father kept telling the case worker at their monthly checkups his son was doing fine in school and never mentioned he needed counseling.

Then in 2023, the sheriff’s office in nearby Jackson County dispatched deputies to visit the Gray’s home after the F.B.I. received anonymous tips warning that a Discord user had threatened in a chat group to shoot up a school “within the next two years,” according to prosecutors. A few months later, the elder Gray gave his son the AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting as a Christmas gift.

Prosecutors said the teen had moved a lot growing up and even missed an entire year of school before his enrollment at Apalachee High School. He had been at the school for just one week and skipped most days before the shooting. Afterward, prosecutors said police found three more loaded magazines in his pocket that his father had also bought for him.

One teacher reportedly said the teen had asked her whether they had done any active shooter drills, and she told him yes.

A text message that the prosecution said the elder Gray exchanged the day of the shooting with his daughter, who was in middle school at the time, read, “Please tell me your brother didn’t do something,” before the two agreed they were thinking the same thing and not to discuss it any further.

Authorities had already revealed that they had found a shrine at the teen’s home dedicated to the high school shooter in Parkland, Florida, but, according to the prosecution, Colt Gray had also told his mother that he had tried to email the shooter in prison and sent him money, which she replied to via text messages with a laughing emoji.

The suspected Apalachee High School shooter’s mother had allegedly been struggling with substance use, causing her to lose custody of his two younger siblings who lived with her in South Georgia.

That made Colin Gray a single father, just trying to raise three kids on his own, his defense team said.

As the trial progresses over the next two weeks, the elder Gray’s lawyers said they’ll show how the father did try to address his son’s deteriorating mental health, and that he did not know about his son’s plans, describing the teen as “manipulative” and “deceptive.”

Jury selection took place last week in Hall County, but the rest of the trial will be in Barrow County, where the shooting occurred.

So far, jurors have seen clips from security video from inside the school and heard testimony from a lieutenant from the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, the deputy superintendent of Barrow County Schools and one of the teen’s teachers, who answered his questions about active shooter drills and the school’s policy on going to the restroom in between classes.

This story was originally published by WABE and is available through a news partnership with the Georgia Recorder.