Teen accused of killing 4 at Apalachee High School appears in court after father's arrest

Colt Gray, the 14-year-old gunman accused of killing four people at his Georgia high school, appeared in court for the first time on Friday to face murder charges, less than 24 hours after the arrest of his father, who faces up to 180 years in prison for his alleged role in the massacre.

Gray, sporting a prison uniform with his dyed-blonde hair tucked behind his ears, spoke little during his arraignment at the Barrow County Courthouse. He quietly acknowledged each of Judge Currie Mingledorff’s questions, whispering only “yes, sir,” before his lawyer declined to request bond and he was escorted from the courtroom in shackles.

Mingledorff noted that the teen’s crimes are typically punishable by death, but that because he is a juvenile, the maximum penalty he will face is life without parole.

His next hearing was set for Dec. 4.

Gray, armed with AR-style rifle, opened fired Wednesday morning inside classrooms at Apalachee High School in the suburb of Winder, some 50 miles outside Atlanta, police said. Local authorities were alerted to the violence through new technology on the teacher’s identification badges: a small button that, when pushed, notifies law enforcement to a potential active situation.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said first responders were on the scene within minutes of receiving the alert, but that it was a school resource officer who initially confronted Gray. The teen immediately surrendered, the sheriff added, and he was taken into custody without further incident.

Two math teachers, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53 were killed during the rampage alongside Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, who were both 14-year-old students at Apalachee, officials confirmed.

An additional nine people, among them another teacher, were injured, police said.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the gunman’s father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, was also arrested, with authorities arguing that he facilitated the shooting by allowing his son to possess a deadly weapon. He was booked into the Barrow County Jail on Thursday and faces more than a dozen charges.

Colin on Friday also made a court appearance, where Mingledorff read out the maximum sentence for each of the counts brought against him.

He faces up to 30 years in prison for each of the two counts of felony murder in the second degree, 10 years for each of the four counts of felony involuntary manslaughter, and 10 years for each of the eight counts of felony cruelty to children in the second degree.

That means his maximum possible penalty is 180 years behind bars, the judge noted.

Law enforcement sources told NBC the elder Gray gave the AR-style rifle to his son as a Christmas gift, despite the fact that they were interviewed by law enforcement officials in May 2023 in connection with reported online threats to carry out a school shooting.

Colin’s next hearing was also set for Dec. 4.