Dad knew son was behind Apalachee shooting, sister says

The younger sister of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray knew “pretty well” he was behind the incident as it was unfolding, and so did their father, she testified Tuesday.

The 14-year-old, referred to in case records as “J.G.,” was a witness in the associated criminal case against her father, Colin Gray. He is accused of providing Colt Gray with the rifle that prosecutors say was used to kill two students and two teachers and injure nine others on Sept. 4, 2024.

Colin Gray’s daughter testified about texting him while she was in lockdown at her middle school during the incident. She said in one text to him, “I think we’re thinking the same thing and I don’t want to talk about it over text.”

“I knew pretty well that Colt was the one that was doing it and I knew pretty well that my dad knew it too,” she testified.

Her face was not shown on a livestream of the trial under the judge’s orders. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is not naming her because she is a minor.

The daughter, 13 at the time of the shooting, said she had earlier spoken to her father about restricting Colt Gray’s access to several guns in their then-home in Barrow County. She said Colin Gray was concerned about Colt Gray’s “mental issues” but did nothing to lock up or otherwise secure the guns.

The rifle that Colin Gray bought for Colt Gray as a Christmas present in 2023 was kept in Colt Gray’s bedroom, J.G. said.

That part of her testimony contradicted what Colin Gray told GBI agents during a recorded interview immediately after the shooting. The interview was played to the jury Tuesday morning, before J.G. testified.

In the interview, Colin Gray told GBI agent Kelsey Ward that the guns were kept unloaded at the top of his bedroom closet and that ammunition was stored separately.

Colin Gray also told Ward he had taken Colt Gray to a shooting range, where they went through firearm safety training, and that they had bonded in a positive way while deer hunting. He said he bought the rifle for his son because the teenager was scared to use another gun that had jammed when he’d fired it while hunting.

“This is not your fault,” Ward told Colin Gray in the Sept. 4, 2024, interview. “You sound like a great dad. When things like this happen, you can’t blame yourself. You have really been doing some incredible work in your kids’ lives.”

Ward testified Tuesday that Colin Gray told her he had been trying to arrange counseling and other help for Colt Gray in the week before the shooting.

“He indicated that he felt that Colt needed to be checked into a place and that basically he had been doing some emailing back and forth with some mental health facilities,” she said.

Colin Gray has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and child cruelty in connection with the shooting. He is the first Georgia parent criminally charged in association with a mass school shooting that their child is accused of committing.

In the only other case like it in the U.S. to have proceeded to trial, the parents of a Michigan school shooter were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to at least 10 years in prison.

Colt Gray, 14 at the time of the shooting, is separately being prosecuted and is yet to stand trial. He has pleaded not guilty to 55 charges of malice and felony murder, aggravated battery, child cruelty and aggravated assault.

Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14-year-old students, and teachers Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall were killed in the shooting.

Colt Gray’s sister testified Tuesday that he had shown an interest in school shooters before the incident and had placed pictures of people connected to school shootings in their home. She said Colin Gray did not know the people in the pictures.

In his initial interview with GBI agents, Colin Gray said he had asked his son about a picture of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz, which Colt Gray had displayed in his bedroom a couple of days before the Apalachee shooting. Colin Gray said his son removed the image after he asked who it was.

Colin Gray’s daughter said Tuesday that she has chosen not to have any contact with her biological family since the Apalachee shooting and is living in a more stable environment with foster parents. She said Colin and Colt Gray sometimes fought before the incident, particularly when the son did not get his way.

“There would be punches thrown, a lot of shoving,” she said.

Colin Gray wanted to get help for his son but didn’t know what first step to take, his daughter said.