GBI arrests father of Apalachee High shooting suspect, Colin Gray now charged with murder

Students wait to be picked up by their parents after a school shooting took place on September 4, 2024 in Winder. Four fatalities and multiple injuries have been reported and a suspect is in custody according to authorities. Megan Varner/Getty Images

The father of Colt Gray, the suspect in Wednesday’s Apalachee High School shooting, has been arrested and is being held at the Barrow County Detention Center, authorities announced Thursday.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that  Colin Gray is now detained after he was arrested Thursday on charges of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children connected to the Wednesday morning mass shooting at the Barrow County school attended by bis 14-year old son, Colt Gray. The younger Gray also faces murder charges for allegedly firing the shots that killed two teachers and two students. Nine other people injured in the shooting are expected to make a full recovery, federal, state and local agencies reported Thursday.

Colt Gray was arrested minutes after law enforcement stormed the school. He is accused of firing bullets from an AR-15 rifle with a collapsible stock police say was used to kill 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo and math teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall.

According to law enforcement officials, the 54-year-old Gray purchased the AR-style gun used in the shooting in December as a Christmas gift for his son. Shortly after the Apalachee High shooting, police confirmed Colt Gray was  also interviewed last year as a suspect after posting threatening social media messages targeting a school in Jackson County.

The Georgia  Bureau of Investigation said the firearm used in the Barrow shooting was given to Colt Gray his father several months after the Grays were interviewed by Jackson sheriff’s investigators in 2023. Investigators declined to press.charges at the time, deciding they lacked probable cause.

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