Accused Apalachee High School shooter pleads guilty to all 55 counts
ATLANTA, Ga. - Colt Gray, the now-16-year-old accused of killing four people and injuring nine others in 2024’s deadly Apalachee High School shooting, pleaded guilty in Barrow County court on Friday morning.
Colt previously pleaded not guilty, but Friday’s hearing was listed as a non-negotiated plea and sentencing.
Shortly after entering the crowded courtroom, Colt pleaded guilty to all 55 charges, including several counts of malice murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and first-degree cruelty to children.
Before accepting the plea, Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm asked Gray a series of questions meant to ensure that the teenager was aware of the consequences of his plea and was entering it voluntarily. To each question, Gray responded, “Yes, your honor.”
Because he pleaded guilty to murder, Gray faces a minimum sentence of life in prison. The judge must decide whether he should be eligible for parole.
Once the plea was entered, victim family members began testifying about their loved ones and the losses they experienced as a result of the shooting.
The judge plans to hear each side’s summary of the case, evidence and sentencing recommendation before deciding the sentence.
Gray sat at a table in the courtroom with his feet chained together and sat at a table with his attorney. Members of the community, including some relatives of victims, were on hand in the courtroom.
Pri had given Colt until the end of July to reach an agreement ahead of his trial, which had been scheduled to begin in October in Columbia County.
What to expect at Friday’s hearing
Prosecutors have indicated in court filings they intend to call teenage victims and witnesses to testify and to show surveillance video and crime scene photos.
They have also noted they may introduce 911 calls and Gray’s school, medical and social media records.
Gray’s defense attorney wrote in a court filing that he plans to call a psychologist, someone who works at the juvenile detention center where Gray has been held and his grandmother to testify.
Gray faces 55 total counts, including murder in the four deaths and 25 counts of aggravated assault.
What happened at Apalachee High School
Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, were killed in the shooting.
Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.
Investigators testified that Gray carried the rifle onto the school bus with the barrel wrapped in poster board.
He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the rifle, shooting people in a classroom and hallway.
Investigators say Gray carefully plotted the shooting at the high school of 1,900 students.
A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified that Gray left a notebook in his classroom with step-by-step instructions and a diagram to prepare for the assault, including an estimate that he could kill as many as 26 people and wound as many as 13 others.
Investigators also found a shrine in Gray’s bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Sheriff’s deputies interviewed Colt and Colin Gray in May 2023 about an online threat linked to the son. Colt Gray denied making the threat.
His father’s case
Gray’s father, Colin Gray, was convicted in March on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
He is scheduled to be sentenced July 28-29 in Barrow County.
Prosecutors said Colin Gray gave his son the assault-style rifle used in the shooting.
An investigator testified during Colin Gray’s trial that he had been aware his son’s mental health had deteriorated and sought help from a counseling service weeks before the shooting, citing anger, anxiety and volatility, but never followed through on getting help.
Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators she had urged him weeks before the shooting to secure his guns and restrict their son’s access to them.
Instead, over time, Colin Gray bought the boy ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories, records show.
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