WINDER — Sheriff’s deputies on Friday led a 14-year-old high school freshman into a Georgia courtroom, where he learned he could face life in prison without parole for allegedly gunning down two of his classmates and two teachers. Shackled and wearing a green jail uniform, Colt Gray nodded silently as the judge explained the proceedings.
Minutes later, his 54-year-old father, Colin Gray, was escorted into the same courtroom, also shackled. He rocked back and forth and appeared to cry as the judge told him he could be sentenced to up to 180 years in prison for charges authorities say are “directly connected with the actions of his son” in the massacre at Apalachee High School.
All of this unfolded as the victims’ loved ones somberly watched inside the courtroom, clutching each other for support. All of this unfolded as the nation watched live on television. All of this unfolded amid America’s long-running struggle with gun violence.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The Georgia case parallels one from earlier this year in Pontiac, Michigan, where the first parents convicted in a mass school shooting in America were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. The judge in that case pointed to what he said were James and Jennifer Crumbley’s missed opportunities to prevent their teenage son from possessing a gun and killing four students three years ago. The couple was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
After the court hearing in Winder on Friday, District Attorney Brad Smith said these are the first school shooting charges involving a son and father in Georgia. Smith added Colt Gray would face additional charges.
Nine others were injured, including eight students and one teacher. All are expected to make a full recovery, said Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.
When Colt Gray was arrested Wednesday, Smith said, authorities “did not know the identities or the conditions of the other victims, so we were not able to charge on those offenses. When the evidence comes in and they’ve had a chance to heal physically, emotionally and spiritually, we will get with them and there will be additional charges that address the other victims in the case.”
That could happen at the grand jury’s next meeting, which is set for Oct. 17.
The Grays did not enter pleas Friday. And their attorneys said they were not seeking bail at the time. Preliminary hearings for both were set for Dec. 4, though that could change.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Meanwhile, Georgia continues to mourn those killed in the shooting: students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14; math teacher and assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, 39; and math teacher Cristina Irimie, 53.
Winder, which is located about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, invited the public to a “Light in the Dark” ceremony to honor the victims Friday evening at Jug Tavern Park. Grief counselors were expected to attend.
The shooting stunned the school’s tightknit community. Hundreds of students and parents returned to campus Thursday and placed flowers at a growing memorial there. Among the mourners was Nicole Cabrera, 14, who was in a nearby classroom Wednesday morning when the gunfire erupted.
“I was in the same hallway,” she said, choking back tears. “I heard everything.”
She had a fourth-period gym class with Christian Angulo and said she was heartbroken he and the others were killed.
“He was just a really nice person,” Cabrera said. “None of them deserved what happened to them. It’s so messed up.”
Others questioned how Colt Gray was able to get the semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle he allegedly used in the shooting.
Shayla Hadziahmetovic, a 2018 Apalachee graduate, joined a nationwide student walkout her senior year after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead.
“We were really rattled to find out this happened at our own school,” she said. “Nothing has changed. Nothing’s happening. Nothing is being fixed, and students are still in fear. ... Nobody should have to go to school like this.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The shooting also rattled parents. Stella Silva Garcia said Friday she kept her 12-year-old son home from Hopewell Middle School after he showed her an image of a gun circulating online with a threat that says: “HOPEWELL, CAMBRIDGE, ALPHARETTA, KINGS RIDGE your (sic) next.”
“Our children, our 12-year-old children, are telling us what’s going on. But where are the adults? Why aren’t the adults doing something about it?” Garcia said at a news conference at the state Capitol, where Democrats called on Gov. Brian Kemp to support more gun control measures. “Our children are being traumatized.”
Both vice presidential candidates weighed in on the Winder shooting this week. Republican nominee JD Vance told rallygoers in Arizona on Thursday that he laments that school shootings are a “fact of life” and officials need to bolster security to prevent such violence.
“If these psychos are going to go after our kids, we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance said. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in. But it is the reality that we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”
The same day, Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee, told supporters at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania: “We believe in the freedom to send our kids to school without being shot dead in the hall.”
Colt Gray, who has been charged with four counts of felony murder, was the first of the two to appear Friday before Chief Judge Currie Mingledorff in Winder. Initially, the judge mentioned the death penalty as a possible punishment, but he summoned the teen back to the courtroom moments later to correct that. Though Colt Gray is being tried as an adult, Mingledorff told him he is not eligible for the death penalty, given his age.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The teenager’s father appeared before the same judge minutes later. Colin Gray was arrested Thursday and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. He faces up to 180 years in prison, Mingledorff told him.
GBI Director Chris Hosey said the father’s charges “stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon.”
Parents, according to Georgia law, can be charged with second-degree cruelty to children if investigators can show criminal negligence. Second-degree murder is added if the negligence results in a child’s death. This is one of the few legal avenues Georgia prosecutors have, as the state has not enacted a law requiring the safe storage of firearms.
Smith, the district attorney in Winder, called the school shooting “an attack on an entire community.”
“Everyone in this community is a victim,” he said, “Every child in that school was a victim.”
AJC staff writers Michelle Baruchman and Greg Bluestein contributed to this report.
