The father of Colt Gray, the teenage suspect in the murder, Apalachee High School shootinghas been arrested, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday.
Collin Gray, 54, has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the GBI said. A 14-year-old suspect has been arrested in the shooting. He was charged with four murders.
GBI Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference Thursday night that the charges against Colin Gray stem from “knowingly allowing his son to have a weapon.” He is in custody and being booked at the Barrow County Detention Center, authorities said Thursday.
Minors are not allowed to own guns in Georgia. State and federal laws also prohibit juvenile suspects from purchasing handguns, rifles or shotguns.
Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
His son, a student at Apalachee High School, reportedly Four people died, two students and two teachersNine other people killed in the Wednesday morning school shooting in Winder, Georgia, were hospitalized, but all are expected to survive and “make a full recovery,” Barrow County Sheriff Judd Smith said Thursday. Hospital officials said Thursday that at least seven of those nine patients had been treated and released, and at least one other remains hospitalized in stable condition.
Police and federal agents are investigating whether the weapon used in the shooting, which authorities have described as an AR-style weapon, was purchased by the teen’s father as a gift for his son in December 2023, according to four federal law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.
The suspect and his father were questioned by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in May of last year. FBI receives tips The FBI said in a statement Wednesday night that investigators did not have sufficient evidence regarding the online posts threatening a school shooting or “sufficient probable cause to take any additional law enforcement action,” the FBI said.
According to a report released Thursday by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the then-13-year-old claimed he deleted the Discord account from which the threats were made because it was repeatedly hacked.
In the incident report, a deputy said the teen โassured me he never threatened to shoot up a school.โ
Local police records obtained by CBS News show the alleged shooter’s parents were going through a divorce at the time. His mother took custody of two other children after the divorce, while the suspect remained with his father, records show.
The alleged shooter is being treated as an adult, authorities said Wednesday, and his first court appearance is scheduled for Friday morning.
