WINDER, GA — Barrow County prosecutors put the spotlight back on Colin Gray at the father’s trial in connection with 2024’s deadly mass shooting at Apalachee High School. First up for the day was bodycam footage from that morning on September 4.
Two deputies were dispatched to the Gray home while the investigation was underway. The State says Gray made an outburst which indicates he knew his son was a risk.
After answering their knock, Gray soon exclaims, “Gaaahh! I knew it. My little girl just texted. She’s in middle school she said ‘We’re on lockdown.’ I’m like, ‘God almighty, please tell me your brother didn’t do something.’”
“Well, why do you think that?” asks a deputy.
Gray goes on to explain that he’s been trying to get his son into counseling because he “just didn’t fit in last year” at school.
The jury heard from a series of school district and Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) professionals who detailed gaps in Colt Gray’s education, with no official records showing he was either enrolled in school or home schooled at various points.
A middle school principal from Jackson County said that the boy had vandalized bathrooms while there and gotten into fights. He was also accused of drawing swastikas on a school calculator. Carol Ann Knight said he was viewed as “struggling to fit in.” He had received some in-school suspensions.
The DFCS employees described their investigations and duties with the Gray families in a couple of counties.
Shonda Goolsby, who worked with DFCS in Ben Hill County, says a case was opened in the fall of 2021 because Colt Gray had said his mother, Marcee, had slapped him.
Sujette Giddens, a school counselor in Ben Hill County, said as a middle schooler Colt used a school computer to search the phrases “abuse” and “how to kill your dad.” They sent a resource officer to the home to follow up on it, and the mother, Marcee, assured the officer that everything was fine. Cross-examination revealed there was no indication that anyone ever told the boy’s father, Colin, about the Internet searches.
In May of 2023, two Jackson County deputies were sent to the Gray home after chat site users on Discord told the FBI of an alarming post.
“There’d been a threat to shoot up a school, and it came from a Discord account connected to Colt,” testified Jackson County Deputy Investigator Danny Miller.
Colin Gray reacted with surprise, saying, “For real?” He added, “I’m pretty much in shock if that’s what was said.” He told the deputies he would be extremely angry if that were true, and that if corroborated, the boy’s access to any weapons would be gone. He immediately got the boy outside after saying, “Whatever y’all tell hm, please instill in him that if this is--whatever or wherever this has come from, this is no joke. Like, it’s no joke.”
Colt Gray promised that he “would never say something like that.”
“He denied making the threat, and said that he used to have a Discord account, but he had stopped using it because people were hacking it,” said Miller.
The threat also appeared to have come in Russian, a language which Colt said he does not speak.
Jurors also heard that Colin Gray did seem to be alarmed about his son’s behavior weeks before the Apalachee High shooting.
Winder therapist Dawn Crook said she got an e-mail on her website from Colin Gray about his 14-year-old son. It was mid-August, within the first couple of days of the new 2024 school year.
“We’ve had a very difficult pass [sic] couple of yrs, and he needs help. Anger, anxiety, quick to be volatile. I don’t know what to do…Can you help?” Crook testified that other than a grateful response to Crook’s encouraging reply, she never heard from Gray again despite two more calls and an e-mail to him. She never provided any counseling services for Colt.
The Apalachee High Shooting was 2.5 weeks later.
Gray faces a 29-count indictment including charges of reckless conduct, child cruelty, and 2nd-degree murder.
WSB Radio’s Veronica Waters contributed to this story.
