Apalachee High School shooting suspect makes first court appearance

Schools across Georgia honored those killed and injured in the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School. (FOX 5)

Schools across the state of Georgia honored those killed and injured in the horrific mass shooting at Apalachee High School.

Moments of silence, homemade signs and even letter "As" were seen on football helmets and at the center of football fields as people came together Friday night to honor the victims of the Apalachee High shooting.

People prayed and released balloons in memory of the two students and two teachers that were gunned down allegedly by a 14-year-old student named Colt Gray.

Gray is facing murder charges. His father has also been charged in connection to the shooting.

Alyssa's Law mandates schools to provide teachers with panic button technology as extra layer of protection during emergencies or threats.

The mother of a 14-year-old girl who was killed by a school shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018, is addressing the need for nationwide bipartisan legislation mandating silent panic alarms for educators in the wake of the Georgia school shooting.

Lori Alhadeff, founder of the nonprofit organization Make Our Schools Safe, lost her daughter Alyssa Alhadeff on Valentine’s Day in 2018 when a lone gunman opened fire and killed 17 people.

Since her daughter’s passing, she has advocated for the passing of Alyssa’s Law, named after her daughter, which requires public schools to be equipped with silent alarms that are directly connected to law enforcement.

"It was the most horrific, horrible thing that any parent could have to go through to see their child murdered; shot," Alhadeff told Fox News Digital during a video interview. "I can remember just taking my hands and trying to warm Alyssa because she was so cold and trying to bring her back to life."

Alhadeff said her daughter was not looking forward to the holiday as she was without a Valentine. To lift her spirits, she gifted Alyssa with a chocolate bar and a new pair of diamond earrings that morning before school.

"She looked so beautiful," Alhadeff said. "I told Alyssa I loved her and that would be the last time that I would see Alyssa alive."

On Sept. 4, 2024, at approximately 10:20 a.m., a 14-year-old lone gunman carried an "AR-platform style weapon" into Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, and opened fire, according to law enforcement.

Victims of the deadly mass shooting included two students, Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irmie.

"The protocols at this school and this system activated today prevented this from being a much larger tragedy than what we had here today," GBI Director Chris Hosey told reporters during a press conference Wednesday.

Apalachee High School educators are provided with identification badges from Centegix, a cloud-based wearable safety technology company.

The panic buttons worn by teachers and staff discreetly enable school personnel to alert law enforcement of emergency situations.

"I think it’s incredible that they had their wearable panic button," Alhadeff said. "I know that when that panic button is pushed, that Alyssa is helping to save lives."

A man leaves flowers outside Apalachee High School.

Public school students in Barrow County, Georgia, are preparing to head back to the classroom for the first time since the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School.

Barrow County Schools Superintendent Dr. Dallas LeDuff announced students will return to the classroom this Tuesday.

Students who attend Apalachee High School will not yet return. It's unclear when that will happen.

"We believe we need to be together as soon as possible to move forward and to provide some sense of familiarity for our students," he wrote in a letter to the school community.

On Wednesday, a 14-year-old student named Colt Gray allegedly opened fire inside the school, killing two teachers and two students and injuring nine others.

He was charged with four counts of murder. Additional charges are expected.

His father, Colin Gray, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder related to the shooting.

A 13-year-old Georgia child has been charged with making terrorist threats against a middle school, authorities said.

The Brooks County Schools Police Department requested assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Thursday after a text message was discovered on an internal messaging platform used by teachers and students.

The message contained a threat to commit a shooting at Brook County Middle School, the GBI said. Investigators quickly identified the person responsible, authorities said.

“He was interviewed and claimed to have made the post as a prank," the GBI said. "It was determined the juvenile was attending classes virtually and had not been present on any school property.”

The child was charged with felony terroristic threats and computer trespass and was taken to the Regional Youth Detention Center.

The alleged threat was discovered a day after a 14-year-old boy shot and killed four people at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, some 250 miles north of Brooks County.

President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the U.A. Local 190 Training Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

President Biden spoke with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday following Wednesday's deadly mass shooting at Apalachee High School.

Biden offered his condolences to the Republican governor over the deaths of two students and two teachers, White House spokeswoman Emilie Simons said.

“The President shared that his prayers are with the devastated families that have lost loved ones, and offered additional assistance to help the community recover from this tragedy,” she said.

The 14-year-old Georgia high school student had a tumultuous home life, according to new emerging details about his mother's criminal record.

According to police and court records, viewed by Fox News Digital, the teen's suspect mother, 43-year-old Marcee Anne Gray, had a lengthy criminal record, which included drug use and property damage.

The teen suspect, who is accused of shooting and killing two teachers and two students at Apalachee High School, came from a divorced home. The 14-year-old lived with his father, Colin Gray, while his two younger siblings resided with their mother, Marcee Gray.

In Nov. 2023, Marcee Gray was arrested for scratching two words into the side of her husband’s truck, and for illicit drugs.

The arrest warrant states that Gray had a glass jar containing methamphetamine , a "baggie" containing fentanyl, another "baggie" containing multiple muscle relaxants, and a glass pipe "used for the ingestion of narcotics."

The warrant notes that she concealed the identity of her Nissan Rogue vehicle by affixing a tag for a Nissan Kick.

In December 2023, Marcee Gray was charged and pleaded guilty to single counts of using a license plate to conceal identity, criminal damage to property in the second degree and criminal trespass/family violence.

Gray faced a misdemeanor traffic charge in Forsyth County and a speeding charge in Barrow county in 2014. She was also charged in 2008 for a 2007 offense, including driving under the influence of alcohol, the outlet reports.

Read the full article about the Georgia shooting suspect's mother by Sarah-Rumpf Whitten. 

Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, leaves the the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)

Alleged Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray's father said his son had been called "gay" by classmates in 2023 interview transcripts recently released by police.

Colin Gray, 54, has been charged in connection with Wednesday's school shooting, which claimed the lives of two students and two adults in Georgia. Colt Gray, 14, is being tried as an adult in the shooting, which killed four and injured nine others.

According to father Colin Gray in recently released police interrogation transcripts, "[Colt's] gone through a lot."

"[Colt] just wants us to have a simple life. All that like, he should be excited about getting into 8th grade. It just was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on by, you know, it went from one thing to another to, you know, he was talking to the couple friends he has," said Gray.

The call, taken by Investigator Dan Miller in 2023, cast 14-year-old Colt as someone who had been picked on and "ridiculed" by classmates at Apalachee High School.

Read the full article about the alleged shooter being bullied at school by Jasmine Baehr.

A worker sets up a display of handguns on the floor of the exhibition hall ahead of the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., on Thursday, April 25, 2019.

Georgia is not among the 21 states that have so-called red-flag laws, which allow authorities to temporarily remove firearms from someone's home if they can potentially cause harm with the weapon.

The teenager charged in the shooting, Colt Gray, 14, at Apalachee High School was questioned by local authorities in 2023 following an FBI tip about alleged threats the boy, then 13, made about possibly shooting up a school on Discord.

Gray denied making the threats and the investigation was closed and no arrest was ever made. The investigator cited “inconsistent information.”

Many Republican-led legislatures around the country have resisted red-flag laws, citing gun rights.

An analysis conducted by The Associated Press found many states with such laws rarely use them. The trend was blamed on lack of awareness of the laws and resistance by some authorities to enforce them.

The father of the suspected teenage shooter accused of killing four people and wounding several others at Apalachee High School has also been charged in connection with the deadly rampage.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Colin Gray, 54, allowed his son, Colt Gray, 14, to possess a weapon. The elder Gray has since been charged with multiple offenses, including murder.

He reportedly gave the AR-platform-style weapon used in the shooting to his son as a Christmas present.

In May 2023, Colin Gray told Jackson County authorities that there were guns in his house but that they were not loaded, when questioned about online threats against a middle school linked to his son.

He said that he had sought to teach gun safety, and that his son had recently shot his first deer.

The charges against Gray mirror the prosecution of the parents of Ethan Crumbley, a Michigan teenager who also shot and killed four people at Oxford High School in 2021.

James and Jennifer Crumbley were both sentenced to at least ten years in prison after prosecutors argued they should be held accountable for their son's actions and a series of missteps they said could have prevented the shooting.

While Vice President Kamala Harris was quick to call for action against gun violence after Wednesday's school shooting in Georgia that killed four and injured several others, she has remained silent on alarming incidents involving armed Venezuelan migrant gangs overtaking apartment buildings, critics charge.

"It's telling that gun violence is only mentioned when it fits a particular narrative," Beverly Hills school board candidate and gun shop owner Russell Stuart told Fox News Digital. "VP Harris is quick to politicize the actions of a mentally ill 14-year-old boy, but remains silent on the very real and dangerous violence being carried out by illegal immigrant gangs in American cities."

"Law abiding citizens deserve safety and security, and their protection should not be sidelined by political gamemanship and deflection," he added.

Harris lamented the incident on X Thursday and said that her and her husband were "mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short by gun violence at Apalachee High School in Georgia."

"Our hearts are with the students, teachers, and families impacted by this shooting, and we are grateful to the first responders and law enforcement on the scene. This is a senseless tragedy — and it does not have to be this way. We must end the epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all," Harris wrote.

The school shooting in battleground Georgia brought the Second Amendment  back into the focal point of the neck-and-neck election race and added to the list of different policy stances between Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Read the full article about Kamala Harris' call for gun control.

A Discord account believed to be associated with suspected shooter Colt Gray was removed from the platform last year after it was flagged, the company said Friday.

"An account believed to be associated with the suspect was created on April 2, 2023, and removed by Discord on May 21, 2023, for violating our policy against extremism," a Discord statement to Fox News Digital states.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI.

Gray and his father, Colin Gray, 54, were questioned by authorities in May 2023 over alleged threats made online by the teenager.

“At that time, Discord’s Safety team immediately responded to law enforcement, provided all requested information to aid in their investigation, and acted swiftly to remove the user from the platform," Discord said. "Based on our ongoing investigation since then, we have no indication that the suspect used Discord to discuss or plan this horrific attack.”

The FBI was alerted about the online activity and shared the information with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

Fox News Digital has also reached out to the sheriff's office. 

Apalachee High School shooting victim Mason Schermerhorn. (Barrow County School District)

Alanna Wallace, identified by Fox5 Atlanta as the sister of Apalachee High School shooting victim Mason Schermerhorn, said he once told her that "he wanted to be like me when he got older."

"He had just started learning to play trumpet, and he did it because I play trumpet," Wallace told the station. 

Wallace also said that Schermerhorn "loved everyone" and that "it’s going to be hard, it’s going to be different" to imagine life without him.

Math teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie also were killed at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, along with Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, students who were both 14, officials say. 

Former assistant district attorney Phil Holloway told “America’s Newsroom” on Friday that the “the facts as alleged” against Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray and his father Colin appear to be “very damning.” 

“Both of these individuals are potentially facing the rest of their natural lives in prison,” he said. “I think law enforcement is still having to complete their investigation, but the criminal negligence aspect is very fact-dependent and all we know right now is that he allegedly made this firearm available to his son, so we need to find out some additional details.” 

Colt Gray is accused of opening fire on Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, killing four and injuring nine others. 

“Needless to say, the facts as alleged against both of these guys appear to be very, very damning for both of them,” Holloway added. 

Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray is expected to face additional charges following Wednesday's attack, Jackson County District Attorney Brad Smith said Friday.

Smith said the nine people who were injured in the shooting were never accounted for in the charges that Gray currently faces.

So far, Gray has been charged with four counts of felony murder -- one for each person killed.

Smith also said that Colin Gray, the 14-year-old suspect's father, "may" face additional charges as well pending the outcome of an investigation.

"You don't have to be physically injured in this to be a victim. Everyone in this community is a victim, every child in that school was a victim," he added.

People gather at the flagpole outside the entrance to Apalachee High School on Thursday, Sept. 5. (AP/Sharon Johnson)

The flagpole outside Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia has now become a makeshift memorial in the wake of Wednesday’s mass shooting. 

"It still feels like a dream, but it's not. It hasn't finished processing," student Hogan Gooch told Fox5 Atlanta after being inside the school as the attack unfolded. 

"I needed to come out and bring flowers for the people, and… it just helps to be here," he added. 

The flags have been lowered to half-mast following Wednesday’s shooting, during which four people were killed and nine others were wounded. 

Rob McGinnis, the father of a sophomore student at Apalachee High School, told Fox5 Atlanta that his phone was flooded with messages from his daughter Brennen as the shooting unfolded there Wednesday. 

“Daddy, dad, there’s gunshots, I’m scared,” read some of the texts the student sent her father.  

“I think the police got him, I can’t talk, I hear the police I think they got him,” the messages continued. 

McGinnis told the station that he then raced to the school and ran on foot to find his daughter. 

"The police officers were trying to direct parents one way, and I wasn’t having it,” he said. “She told me through a text that she was on the football field, so that’s where I went.”

Colin Gray, the 54-year-old father of the Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, made his first court appearance Friday.

The father has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. Authorities said the charges are connected to the suspect's possession of a weapon. 

"For the felony murder counts... the maximum penalty for each count is up to 30 years imprisonment," Judge Currie Mingledorff II said. "For felony involuntary manslaughter... the maximum penalty for for each of those offenses is ten years imprisonment."

"For the eight felony cruelty to children counts, the maximum penalty under the law for each of those eight counts is ten years imprisonment for a maximum total, possible penalty for the charges that you currently are facing, of 180 years imprisonment," the judge concluded.

Gray could be seen rocking back and forth in his chair after the judge spoke. The preliminary hearing in his case, like his son's, will be on Dec. 4.

Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, leaves the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School. (Brynn Anderson/Pool/AP)

Judge Currie Mingledorff II called Colt Gray back into the courtroom Friday to tell him that "I correctly told you, the maximum penalty for the crimes for which you are charged."

"That's correct, except for the fact that, you are under 18 years old. So I wanted to inform you and make it clear to you that the penalty for the crimes for which you are charged does not include death," he added. "It includes, life without the possibility of parole or life with the possibility of parole."

Gray's preliminary hearing in the case has been set for Dec. 4 at 8:30 a.m. ET

Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray appeared in Barrow County Superior Court on Friday for the first time following this week’s mass shooting. 

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says Gray has been “charged with 4 counts of felony murder in connection to the shooting.” 

"I want to make you aware that the maximum penalty for felony murder. So for each count, the maximum penalty is that you could be punishable by death, by imprisonment for life without parole or by imprisonment for life, with the possibility of parole," Judge Currie Mingledorff II told Gray.

Mingledorff said at this point, there is no bond being requested for Gray.

An attorney representing Gray also told the judge "there was a development yesterday afternoon that makes it necessary for our office to have alternate counsel appointed, and arrangements have already been made in that regard.

"I've already explained that to Mr. Gray. Alternate counsel will be appointed by the end of the day today," she added.

Gray did not enter a plea during the appearance.

Colt Gray, the teen suspect accused of committing the mass shooting at Apalachee High School that killed four individuals and wounded nine others, will appear in person for his first court appearance, rather than appearing virtually.

Gray is set to appear before the court at 8:30 a.m. on Friday.

Colin Gray, the 54-year-old father of the suspect who has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, is also expected to appear in court Friday. Authorities said the charges are connected to the suspect's possession of a weapon.

Colin Gray is expected to appear at 9:30 a.m. ET Friday.

The charges against the father of the suspected shooter accused of killing four people at a Georgia high is an example of a new approach by authorities to curb similar incidents, a legal expert told Fox News Digital.

Colin Gray, 54, has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

On Thursday, authorities said the charges are connected to the possession of a weapon by Gray's son, Colt Gray, who allegedly killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School and wounded nine others.

“This was done by authorities in Michigan who successfully prosecuted the parents of a teen who killed four students using a firearm his parents purchased for him,” said David Gelman, a criminal defense attorney and former deputy district attorney.

Jennifer and James Crumbley were convicted in April of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced 10 years in prison after prosecutors said they kept an unsecured gun at home and showed indifference toward their son's mental health. Ethan Crumbley killed four students at a high school in 2021.

Colin Gray's case is different because he also faces murder charges, said Gelman.

“The charge of murder may be challenging to prove as this charge contemplates malice aforethought, as opposed to involuntary manslaughter which does not require a specific intention to cause death,” he said.

People gather to pay their respect the day after the mass shooting at Apalachee high school in Winder GA, United States on September 05, 2024. (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Colt Gray, 14-year-old accused of killing four people and injuring nine others during the shooting at Apalachee High School will make his first court appearance Friday.

The appearance is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time.

Gray, who is currently being held at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, will be appearing virtually in Barrow County Superior Court, a Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice spokesperson announced Thursday.

Officials previously have said the suspect will face murder charges.

Jackson County, Georgia, officers in 2023 spoke face-to-face with the boy who is now charged with felony murder in the deaths of four at Apalachee High School in Winder on Wednesday.

The sheriff's officers described their interactions in a detailed investigation report from May 21, 2023, when suspect Colt Gray was 13 years old, after being tipped off by the FBI about a threat on the messaging app Discord of a threat to shoot up a middle school. Discord is popular with some video gamers.

Gray said he had previously deleted a Discord account and denied that he would make such a threat, "even in a joking manner," according to the report.

Gray's father, Colin, told the officers that he had hunting rifles in the house but that his son "does not have unfettered access to them." The two guns were both "locked away," the father told them. Authorities have said the shooting was carried out with an AR-style rifle.

"I urged Colin to keep his firearms locked away, and advised him to keep Colt out of school until this matter could be resolved," investigator Daniel Miller Jr. wrote.

Jackson County investigators could not substantiate the Discord threat, which came from a user profile that spelled Lanza in Russian, according to the report. Adam Lanza perpetrated the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

The officer also found that the information sent to the FBI was communicated via various IP addresses across the world: Palmdale, California; Los Angeles; and Cockburn, Australia. He also reviewed the email address and phone number related to the case as well as the user profile linked to the threats. 

Read the full article about the shooting suspect by Timothy H.J. Nerozzi.

A law enforcement expert discussed what Georgia agencies are lasered in on as they continue to investigate the tragic Apalachee High School shooting.

Matthew Fagiana, a retired police sergeant and law enforcement consultant , told Fox News Digital that Georgia's top law enforcement agencies are continuing to investigate Colt Gray's motivation while simultaneously working on ways to prevent future mass shootings in the community.

The suspected shooter, 14-year-old Gray, opened fire at the high school, killing 2 teachers and 2 students.

Fagiana said that law enforcement is focused on the 14-year-old's past and if he had any known interactions with the victims. The law enforcement expert also said that investigative units would likely meticulously comb through Gray's home as well as the high school.

"I can only assume that the crime scene at the school is quite large," he said. "Those types of scenes require a very meticulous examination and collection of evidence – things like logging locations of evidence, spent casings.

"Fagiana said that investigators are attempting to answer what prompted the suspected shooter to open fire.

"One important piece of the suspect being taken into custody will be the interviews he provides to investigators," he said. "Any time we have someone who commits a mass killing, one of the most important questions we are trying to answer is the 'why.'"

"And because many school shooters either kill themselves, or are killed by law enforcement to prevent further harm to others, we are often left without the ‘why’ and can only develop theories based on their history and any evidence they leave behind," he said.

Read the full article about the shooting suspect by Sarah Rumpf-Whitten.