Grand jury hears case against Apalachee HS shooting suspect Colt Gray

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. – The case against Colt Gray, the 14-year-old charged in the fatal shooting at Apalachee High School, will go before a grand jury on Thursday.

The Barrow County teenager allegedly opened fire at his school in September, killing two teachers and two students and injuring nine others.

Police arrested Gray minutes after the first reports of shots fired were relayed to law enforcement. He has been charged with four counts of aggravated murder, with additional charges still awaiting consideration by the grand jury.

His father, Colin Gray, was also arrested for allegedly purchasing the AR-15-style weapon used in the shooting despite knowing his son was struggling and may need mental health treatment.

While the hearing is closed to the public, FOX 5 will be at the courthouse to see if the jury agrees to a new indictment in the case.

The GBI timeline of the Apalachee High School shooting

At a court hearing for Colin Gray on Wednesday, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agents gave detailed testimony about the events leading up to and during the shooting.

The first GBI agent described how Colt Gray arrived at the school and what he had with him at the time – a backpack with a “rolled up poster board” in the backpack. The agent said that Colt went to his first class. Although he took a bathroom break during this time, he didn’t appear to be doing anything unusual.

During the second period, Colt took out a black notebook or binder and placed it on his desk. He also briefly used his phone. At 9:45 a.m. he left the classroom to allegedly see the school counselor. When he left, he took his backpack with him, but left the black notebook behind. The notebook was later recovered by crime scene technicians.

After leaving the classroom, Gray went to a student bathroom in J Hall and entered one of the stalls, according to the agent’s statement. Items associated with Gray were later found in one of the stalls. A short time later he left the toilet wearing yellow gloves and the backpack with the poster “wrapped” around his upper body. He went back to his second period class and knocked on the door. However, the student who got up to open the door apparently saw something concerning and refused to open the door. The student then alerted the teacher, who initiated a suspension procedure.

Gray then entered a nearby classroom and began shooting. Several people were hit in that classroom, including 14-year-old Christian Angulo, who was killed.

After firing for just seven seconds, Colt ran toward a row of toilets. He was next seen shouldering the rifle and shooting at one of the slain teachers. Next, he turned to I Hall and saw two of the school’s coaches causing multiple injuries.

MORE: What Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray did before the shots rang out

Colt Gray then turned his attention back to J Hall and surveillance video shows him trying to gain access to other classrooms. Then he encountered the second student killed and Gray shouldered his weapon again.

A few seconds later, two school staff members entered the hallway and ordered Gray to drop his weapon. Gray did so immediately and was taken into custody.

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Notebook and shrine found in Colt’s house

Prosecutors argued that Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters and knew that Colt Gray had a shrine to the shooter in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, massacre on his home computer.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Kelsey Ward said in court Wednesday that Colin Gray, 54, asked his son who the people were in the pictures hanging on his wall. One of them, Colt told his father, was Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre.

The “shrine of sorts” consisted of about 15 photos and newspaper articles about previous school shootings and school shootings, suggesting a fascination with similar incidents, investigators said.

During their investigation, the GBI learned from Colt’s father, Colin Gray, that he had received disturbing text messages from both his daughter and his ex-wife on the day of the shooting. After reading the texts, Colin said he went home and turned on the news, where he saw reports of the shooting at Colt’s school. He told investigators that he then went into Colt’s room to look for the AR-15 rifle he had given him, only to find it missing.

The notebook Colt left behind at school had “Hallway” and “Classroom” written at the top of one page.

The column in the hallway says: “I assume 3 to 4 dead. Injured? 4 to 5,” GBI Agent Lucas Beyer testified. “Under the “Classroom” column it says: 15 to 17 dead, injured? 2 to 3.”

Colt joked about school shootings

Shocking new details about the Apalachee HS shooting

At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, several new shocking details were revealed about Colin Gray, the father of Colt Gray, who is accused of killing four people at Apalachee High School.

In her interview with the GBI, the teen’s mother, Marcee Gray, expressed concern about her son’s growing obsession with guns, which she said has gotten significantly worse in recent months. She also recounted conversations with Colt in which he referred to the shootings at Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary and sometimes made disturbing jokes about them. Marcee further explained that Colt asked his father to buy him a shooting mask. When Colin asked why he needed the mask, Colt reportedly joked that she wanted to use it to “finish his school shooter outfit.”

MORE: Here’s what the father of the Georgia school shooting suspect told the FBI in 2023

RAW: Excerpts from the preliminary hearing for Colin Gray

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents testified Wednesday during a preliminary hearing for Colin Gray, the father of accused Apalachee High School mass shooter Colt Gray.

Colt’s parents discussed their son’s fascination with school shooters but concluded it was just a joke and not a serious problem, a GBI agent told the court.

A FOX 5 Atlanta I-Team investigation uncovered Colt Gray’s tumultuous personal life. According to police and court records, Colt lived with his father while his two younger siblings lived with their mother. Last year, Marcee Gray was arrested for damaging her husband’s truck. Upon arrest, officers found methamphetamine, fentanyl and a glass pipe in her possession, resulting in a 46-day jail sentence.

The Christmas before the shooting, Colin Gray bought the gun for his son, Barrow County sheriff’s investigator Jason Smith testified. Colt later asked his father for a larger magazine for the gun so it could hold more rounds, and his father agreed, Smith said. Colin Gray also purchased the ammunition, Smith said.