Suspect and father in Apalachee High School shooting appear in Georgia court
The suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting and his father appeared before a judge Friday morning.
WINDER, Georgia – A crocheted child’s doll. Tear-soaked handkerchiefs. Interlaced fingers.
More than a dozen family members and victims sat as silent but emotional witnesses on Friday as Georgia school shooter accused Colt Gray, 14, and his father Colin Gray, 54, appeared separately in the same leather chair in the Barrow County courtroom to hear the charges against them.
Colt Gray is accused of killing two classmates and two teachers at rural Apalachee High School on Wednesday. And reflecting a growing national trend, Colin Gray has been charged with aiding and abetting — illegally giving his son access to the AR-15-style rifle that police say was used in the attack at the school about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Prosecutors say this is the first time in Georgia history that a parent of a school shooting suspect has been charged in connection with such an attack.
On Wednesday, students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo (both 14) and math teachers Richard Aspinwall (39) and Cristina Irimie (53) were killed. Eight students and one teacher were also injured, according to investigators.
Neither Colt nor Colin Gray said more than a few words during their brief hearings, which were held five miles from the school. Nor did they look back at the assembled family members. Colt Gray, who appeared first in court, kept shaking his shaggy, brass-colored hair out of his eyes.
Schools across the county remained closed Friday morning. A memorial of flowers and candles stood next to the school entrance sign and the Georgia flag flew at half-staff. A handful of mourners had gathered around the flagpole early in the morning but left as the hearings began.
“You don’t have to be physically injured to be a victim,” District Attorney Brad Smith said after the hearing concluded. “Everyone in this community is a victim. Every child in this school is a victim… I feel the weight of all of this.”
Dressed in dark green clothing from the Regional Youth Detention Center in Gainesville, Georgia, Colt Gray’s small frame was swallowed by a chair as he sat with his hands cuffed to his waist and accompanied by a public defender. He answered “yes, sir” several times to questions from Judge Currie M. Mingledorff II, including whether he could read and write English and whether he understood the nature of the charges against him and the possible punishments.
Colin Gray, the boy’s gray-haired father, told the judge he had completed 11th grade and graduated from high school. Colin Gray, who stands more than 6 feet tall, sat hunched over and rocked back and forth in the same chair where his son had looked tiny minutes earlier. Colin Gray was also handcuffed and wearing a gray-and-white striped Barrow County Detention Center jumpsuit. His feet were encased in orange plastic prison slippers. He appeared to sniffle several times and his voice sounded choked as he answered Mingledorff’s questions alongside his public defender.
Colin Gray is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of manslaughter and eight counts of second-degree cruelty to children under a relatively new law in the US state of Georgia that allows prosecutors to charge adults who inflict “cruel or excessive physical or mental pain” on minors.
Colt Gray was charged with four counts of murder, which would carry the death penalty for an adult defendant. After his court appearance, Colt Gray was briefly brought back before Mingledorff so the judge could clarify that as a minor in adult court, Colt Gray would face a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Neither Colt nor Colin Gray have requested a bail hearing and both remain in custody.
After the hearing, District Attorney Smith said a grand jury would consider additional charges against Colt Gray. Gray was arrested before investigators could even determine how many other people were injured.
“There will be additional charges against Colt Gray,” Smith said. “When he was taken into custody on Wednesday, we did not know the identities or conditions of the other victims, so we were unable to charge those crimes. … If (these survivors) have a chance to heal physically, emotionally and spiritually, we will take care of them.”
Family members who attended Friday’s hearings did not speak to reporters and sat separately from the audience during the hearing.
Contributor: Eve Chen, USA TODAY.
