Father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect arrested, GBI says

ATLANTA — The father of the 14-year-old boy accused of killing four people at Apalachee High School was arrested Thursday, the GBI said.

Colin Gray, 54, faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children and will be held at the Barrow County Jail. GBI Director Chris Hosey said during a Thursday evening news conference outside the school that the charges are “directly connected with the actions of his son” in the Wednesday morning shooting at the Barrow County school.

“These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon,” Hosey elaborated,

His son, Colt Gray, is accused of fatally shooting two fellow students and two teachers at Apalachee High. Nine others were injured, authorities said.

Law enforcement officials declined to elaborate on why Colin Gray allowed his son, who was a student at the high school, to possess a weapon but said that the investigation into the school shooting is ongoing. Colt Gray is accused of using an AR-platform-style weapon.

Colt Gray is being held at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center on four counts of murder, officials confirmed. The GBI has said that additional charges are expected. He will be tried as an adult and is set to make his first court appearance Friday morning at the Barrow County courthouse, officials said. The hearing will be virtual, with the teenager calling in from the detention center, Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice spokesperson Glenn Allen added.

Around 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and GBI, responded to Apalachee High. It was placed on lockdown following reports of an active shooter, the Barrow sheriff’s office said. The school is located about 45 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

The two students killed were identified as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. The two adults killed were assistant football coach Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and math teacher Christina Irimie, 53.

Barrow Sheriff Jud Smith said the nine people injured — which included two teachers and seven students — are expected to make a full recovery.

“We’re heartbroken. A young person brought a gun into a school, committed an evil act, and he took lives and he injured many other people, not only physically, but mentally,” Smith said during the Thursday evening news conference.

The FBI said late Wednesday that Colt Gray had been previously investigated. In May 2023, the agency said they received anonymous tips about threats of a school shooting posted on an online gaming site, which included photos of guns but did not specify the school or timing. Federal and local law enforcement traced the post to Jackson County, where sheriff’s deputies carried on with the investigation, eventually identifying Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time.

“The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them,” the FBI said. “The subject denied making the threats online.”

With the information investigators had at the time, there was no legal basis to pursue any charges, the FBI said. But the Jackson sheriff’s office alerted local schools, and Gray was monitored, the FBI added.

(Staff writer Shaddi Abusaid contributed to this story.)