The father of the 14-year-old charged Wednesday in the shooting deaths of two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School was arrested on Thursday, the GBI said.
Colin Gray, 54, faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children and will be held at the Barrow County Jail. GBI Director Chris Hosey said during a Thursday evening news conference outside the school that the charges are “directly connected with the actions of his son” in the Wednesday morning shooting at the Barrow County school.
“These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon,” Hosey said.
According to Georgia law, parents or caretakers can be charged with second-degree cruelty to children if investigators can prove criminal negligence — whether an adult was aware or should have been aware of a gun being in the area and did nothing to keep it out of the reach of children. Second-degree murder is added if the negligence results in a death.
It is one of the few legal avenues Georgia prosecutors can use to impose consequences for parents or caregivers who do not securely store their weapons, as the state does not have a law requiring the safe storage of firearms.
Colt Gray is accused of killing the four and shooting and injuring nine others. Arrest warrants state he used an AR-platform-style weapon.
Law enforcement officials provided few additional details but said the investigation is ongoing. Publicly available records indicated Colin Gray previously faced minor traffic-related charges in the late 1990s.
Colt Gray is being held at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center on four counts of murder, officials confirmed. The GBI has said that additional charges are expected. Colt Gray will be tried as an adult and is set to make his first court appearance Friday morning at the Barrow County courthouse, officials said. The hearing will be virtual, with him calling in from the detention center, Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice spokesperson Glenn Allen added.
Around 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and GBI, responded to Apalachee High. It was placed on lockdown following reports of an active shooter, the Barrow sheriff’s office said. The school is located about 45 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
Those killed were Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and assistant football coach Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and math teacher Cristina Irimie, 53.
Barrow Sheriff Jud Smith said the nine people injured — one teacher and eight students — are expected to make a full recovery.
“We’re heartbroken. A young person brought a gun into a school, committed an evil act, and he took lives and he injured many other people, not only physically, but mentally,” Smith said during the Thursday evening news conference.
Credit: Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
Credit: Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
The FBI said late Wednesday that Colt Gray had been previously investigated. In May 2023, the agency said they received anonymous tips about threats of a school shooting posted on an online gaming site, which included photos of guns but did not specify the school or timing. Federal and local law enforcement traced the post to Jackson County, where sheriff’s deputies carried on with the investigation, eventually identifying Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time.
“The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them,” the FBI said. “The subject denied making the threats online.”
With the information investigators had at the time, there was no legal basis to pursue any charges, the FBI said. But the Jackson sheriff’s office alerted local schools, and Gray was monitored, the FBI added.
— Staff writers Shaddi Abusaid and Rosana Hughes contributed to this story.
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