Georgia high school shooting suspect and his father make first court appearances, do not enter pleas

WSB, CNN

By Ashley R. Williams, Holly Yan, Mark Morales, Ryan Young, Isabel Rosales, Chelsea Bailey, Sara Smart, Jaide Timm-Garcia, Raja Razek and Jade Gordon, CNN

(CNN) — A 14-year-old Apalachee High School student and his father, who are charged in connection with a shooting at the Georgia school that left two students and two teachers dead earlier this week, appeared in court Friday, both declining to enter a plea to the charges against them.

Colt Gray was arraigned in a Barrow County courtroom on four counts of felony murder stemming from a school shooting that’s left a small community grieving.

Officers escorted the teenager into the courtroom shackled, his long hair obscuring parts of his face throughout the proceeding.

LIVE UPDATES: The latest on the Georgia high school shooting

In court, Judge Currie Mingledorff informed Gray of his rights and initially said the maximum penalty in his case was the death sentence or life in prison. He later called Gray back into the courtroom to correct the maximum penalty, telling the teen that because of his young age, the maximum he could face is life in prison with or without parole.

In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled no one can be put to death for crimes committed before the age of 18.

The teen’s legal counsel did not ask for bond to be set during the hearing.

Prosecutors allege Gray fired an AR-style rifle on campus Wednesday morning, killing four people, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Nine others were injured, all but two of whom were shot, the GBI said.

Minutes after his son was escorted out of the same courtroom, Gray’s father, Colin Gray, 54, was arraigned on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Colin Gray entered the courtroom shackled in a white and grey jumpsuit and appeared emotional throughout the hearing, rocking back and forth as the judge informed him of his rights and the charges against him.

His voice broke at times as he addressed the court. Like his son, Colin Gray did not ask for bond at his first appearance, where he was represented by a public defender.

Mingledorff said the father faces a maximum possible penalty of 180 years in prison.

An arrest warrant for Colin Gray alleges he gave his son a firearm “with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others.”

The family of victims of the school shooting sat in the first row in the small courtroom. One woman held a doll of the Disney character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, while others wiped away tears.

Outside the courthouse after the hearings concluded, Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brad Smith told reporters he expects additional charges will be filed against Colt Gray in connection with victims who were injured during the shooting.

“When he was taken into custody on Wednesday, we did not have the identities or the conditions of the other victims. So we were not able to charge on those offenses,” Smith said. “So when 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.”

A grand jury has already been impaneled and will meet on October 17, Smith said.

Wednesday’s mass shooting marked the 45th school shooting of 2024 and the deadliest US school shooting since the March 2023 massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville, in which six people died.

Here’s what we know so far:

• Teenage suspect to be tried as an adult: Colt Gray, who is being held at the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, is slated to remain there while in custody until he turns 17 despite his case being moved to the adult system, Glenn Allen, the agency’s spokesperson, told CNN Thursday. Under Georgia law, a juvenile aged 13 to 17 who commits a serious crime is automatically tried as an adult. Colt Gray is cooperating with investigators, authorities said.

• The four killed have been identified: Wednesday’s deadly shooting at Apalachee High School claimed the lives of two 14-year-old students – Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, as well as two teachers – 53-year-old math teacher Cristina Irimie and 39-year-old assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, who also taught math. Authorities say Irimie was celebrating her birthday with her students the day she was shot and killed, according to a family friend.

• The nine injured are expected to make a full recovery: Of the nine other people injured, seven – six students and a teacher – were shot, the GBI said Thursday. The other two – both students – suffered other injuries, the GBI said. The nine are expected to fully recover from their injuries, Smith said.

• Shooting suspect questioned about online threats last year: In May 2023, law enforcement officials questioned Colt Gray and his father about “online threats to commit a school shooting” that included photos of guns, according to a joint statement from FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time, told investigators during that interview that “someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” authorities said. Authorities could not substantiate the threats and the investigation was closed, according to the sheriff’s office.

• Other schools received threats, investigators say: Apalachee High School received a phone threat on Wednesday morning, before shots rang out on the school’s campus, warning of shootings that would happen at five schools including Apalachee High, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN. It is unclear who placed that call, and investigators found no evidence of other schools being targeted but are pursuing “any leads of any potential associates of the shooter that was involved in this incident,” according to Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

• Suspect’s father bought gun involved in shooting as present: Before the charges against Colin Gray were announced Thursday, two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said he told authorities he purchased the AR-style rifle used in the Apalachee High School shooting as a holiday present for his son in December 2023. That would put the gun purchase months after authorities initially contacted Colin Gray and his family as they investigated a school shooting threat last year.

• Students took shirts off their backs in attempt to save math teacher: Aspinwall’s students said they used their own clothing to try and stop his bleeding after he was shot, according to Julie Woodson, a friend of the Aspinwall family since 2012 who previously worked with him at another Georgia high school. Students told her Aspinwall heard a commotion outside his classroom Wednesday and went to see what was going on. When he did, he was shot in the chest, Woodson said. “His students pulled Ricky back into the classroom and used their own shirts to try to stop the bleeding and save him,” she said.

• Math teacher’s students say they heard him take final breath: Malasia Mitchell, 17, said she was in Aspinwall’s classroom when he entered the hallway after hearing a commotion. Then they heard shots. “We had to watch our teacher come back in the classroom holding himself like he’s been shot, and fell to the floor,” Malasia told CNN. “And as he kept going, my teacher was shot again.” She said students helped pull Aspinwall back into the classroom, closed the door and protected themselves with desks and chairs. “We heard him take his last breath,” Malasia said.

• Student saw shooter with gun and kept classroom door closed: Bri Jones, Malasia Mitchell’s 14-year-old sister, told CNN if she had opened her second period class’s door, the suspect “would have got every single one of us in that class.” Bri said they did not notice when the shooter left the classroom Wednesday, as he was “always quiet” but he returned and knocked. “I always look out the door before I open it,” Bri said. “As I was looking at the door, he was pulling his gun out, and then I froze up, like I froze up and I said ‘no’ to myself. I was like, ‘no,’” she continued. The teacher asked for the door to be opened. “She was going to walk over there, open it, and I was like, ‘no, he has a gun,’” Bri said. “The shooter, he looked up,” she explained. “He was looking at me, my teacher, and then​ somebody was in the hall. He turned his head and he just started shooting.”

• Vigil held Friday in remembrance of shooting victims: Members of the community spoke in remembrance of the four victims who were killed Wednesday. Sara Schneider runs the Bowen Walker Foundation, a non-profit that specializes in grief and bereavement of children. Speaking on behalf of Christian Angulo’s family, she shared words from his sister, Lisette: “We miss my baby brother so much. Honestly, we don’t know how we’re going to navigate life without him. We just want him back. We’re trying to be strong for him, but we are hurting. We wish this never happened …. He was taken too soon from us, and we are so devastated.”

CNN’s Elise Hammond, David Williams, Dalia Faheid, Zenebou Sylla, Devon Sayers, John Miller, Curt Devine, Casey Tolan, Nick Valencia, Rebekah Riess, David Williams, Dakin Andone, Sharif Paget, Melissa Alonso, Andy Rose, Caroll Alvarado, Shawn Nottingham, Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Cindy Von Quednow contributed to this report.

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