Apalachee school shooting: Grand jury indicts Colt and Colin Gray

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — A Grand Jury indicted the father and son arrested in connection to the Apalachee High School shooting last month.

That means there is enough evidence for Colt and Colin Gray to face separate trials. The grand jury indictment formally charges them with a combined total of 84 crimes.

Colt Gray, 14, is charged with 55 crimes including, malice and felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and cruelty to children.

Colin Gray, 54, is charged with 29 crimes including, second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct, and cruelty to children.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said he built both indictments around 25 victims from the Sept. 4 shooting. That includes the two students killed, two teachers killed, one teacher and three students who survived gunshots, three students who suffered shrapnel graze wounds, and 11 students and two teachers caught in the line of fire in a classroom and one student caught in the line of fire in a hallway.

Smith said the list of those hurt spans far beyond that in the community.

“Every kid in that school was a victim. Kids in all the other schools that were locked down during this were victims. Parents that were terrified about where their kids were and what was happening were victims,” said Smith.

Smith said the grand jury heard about two and a half hours of testimony from four witnesses: two GBI agents, a Barrow County Sheriff’s Office detective, and a victim advocate from the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office.

Next, both Colt and Colin Gray will be in court for arraignments. That’s when they will get a copy of the indictments. They will also be asked if they are pleading guilty or not guilty at that time.

The district attorney predicts the defense will eventually argue a jury selected from Barrow County cannot be fair. He said he is prepared to argue against a change of venue.

RELATED STORIES:

• ‘We will heal’: Apalachee High students grapple with first full day of classes since mass shooting
• Stands packed for first home football game since Apalachee HS shooting
• Deadly Apalachee shooting: District attorney files no contact orders for 9 people

Barrow County investigators testified about the details of what they’re calling Colt Gray’s plan to kill several people in the school. They detailed drawings he’d done, what they described as an “obsession” with school shooters, and even that he was trying to create a “school shooter outfit.”

Investigators say Colin Gray bought the weapon for his son as a Christmas gift just months after being investigated for a separate school shooting threat last year. They say he also bought his son ammunition, a larger magazine for his gun and a tactical vest.

GBI agents testified on Wednesday that Colt Gray got the rifle into the school by disguising it as a school project.

“We determined that the rifle was protruding out of his book bag – and part of the rifle that was showing was concealed with a rolled-up poster board,” GBI Special Agent Lucas Beyer testified.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

©2024 Cox Media Group