“I gotta take you at your word, and I hope you’re being honest with me,” Jackson County Sheriff’s Office investigator Daniel Miller Jr. told the then-middle schooler before he left.

Jackson County officers questioned Colt at his home for only a few minutes in May 2023 and later concluded he hadn’t made the online threats, according to audio recordings, transcripts and a case file reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“It’s not anything that I’m concerned about,” Miller told the teen’s father two days later, according to a transcript.

Authorities’ handling of the 2023 threat has taken on new significance in the wake of what is believed to be the deadliest school shooting in Georgia history. It raises questions whether authorities missed critical warning signs and if the tragedy could have been prevented. Gray, now 14, is accused of killing four people and injuring nine others Wednesday at Apalachee High School in neighboring Barrow County.

Credit: Barrrow Sheriff's

Credit: Barrrow Sheriff's

In a summary of their conversation, an investigator wrote that he’d gotten a copy of the bureau’s tip but couldn’t open it on his cellphone.

Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she could not answer questions about the details of the investigation because Miller and others involved with the case had since left her department. Miller could not be reached for comment Thursday.

“They looked into it, yes they did,” Mangum said in an interview. “There were several IP addresses, and they tried to follow up with some of that too.”

Brief investigation

In his conversation with the Jackson County Sheriff’s investigator, with his father standing by, Colt quickly distanced himself from the threats.

He said he once used Discord but said he’d deleted his account a few months earlier, claiming it had been hacked. He promised he would never make a threat like one investigators were asking about.

“So you haven’t used Discord in a few months — ” Miller began to ask.

“Oh no, nuh uh,” Colt interjected.

“— and you’re saying you didn’t say anything like that?” Miller finished.

“No,” Colt answered, “the only thing I have is TikTok, but I just go on there and watch videos.”

“All right, well, fair enough,” Miller concluded.

Investigators had doubts about the information the FBI forwarded them, according to their report on the case. The Discord account had been linked to IP addresses elsewhere in the state, and it recently pinged from New York.

Still, a captain from the sheriff’s office assured the FBI that they had alerted nearby schools and planned to keep an eye on Colt, according to an email provided to the AJC.

It’s unclear which schools, if any, were notified: The case file doesn’t mention any calls to schools, and Mangum said her captain’s email was the only record she had of the notification. School had already let out for summer just days before investigators looked into the 2023 threats.

Jackson County School District, which Colt had already transferred out of, wasn’t notified, spokesman Edward Hooper said. Jefferson City Schools, which did not respond to questions, told the sheriff’s office it doesn’t have a record of being notified either, Mangum said Friday. The Barrow County School District, which includes Apalachee High, did not respond to a request for comment.

Within days, investigators concluded that the evidence was “inconsistent.”

Relaying his findings, Miller urged Colt’s father to do more to protect his son’s identity online.

“I don’t think your son’s being dishonest at all,” Miller said, adding later: “People steal kids’ identities all the time.”

School struggles

Officers’ conversations with Colt and his father shed new light on the boy’s fractured family life, his struggles in school and his challenges to fit in as he bounced between schools.

Even so, his father told the investigator in 2023 he was shocked that his son would be investigated for violent threats.

“I don’t know anything about him saying s*** like that,” Colin Gray said. “I’m going to be mad as hell if he did, and then all the guns will go away.”

His son had access to guns, he said, but they were unloaded. He said he’d been trying to teach his son how to use firearms safely and instill in him a respect for how powerful they are. He was proud that Colt had recently taken his first deer, telling an officer about a photo of his son with blood on his cheeks.

“It was just the greatest day ever,” he said.

Still, Colin Gray said that he’d been concerned about his son in recent years. Colt’s mother and siblings had left the home, and Colt struggled with the separation, his father said.

Credit: John Spink

Credit: John Spink

Colt had finished the seventh grade just the day before the FBI got word of the online threats, his first and only year at Jefferson Middle School, according to Jefferson City Schools. In 2022, he transferred from another middle school in Jackson County.

His father told officers he’d visited the new school regularly because Colt was struggling and was being bullied.

Colt told him he wanted to move out of the school district, he said. In a later phone call, Colin Gray said his son’s classmates had “been pinching him and touching him.”

“He’s gone through a lot,” Colin Gray said, adding: “It was just very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on.”

As the investigators prepared to leave Colt’s house after their initial conversation, Miller made small talk with the teenager, who would soon be in eighth grade. The investigator gave him a word of advice: that high school is what really counts.

“The last four years is what matters,” Miller told Colt. “Get them good grades, man. It will set you up for the rest of your life.”

Two days later, the sheriff’s office closed the investigation.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information from the Jackson County Sheriff’s office statement about notice provided to Jefferson City Schools regarding the 2023 investigation into Colt Gray.