The Apalachee High School shooter in Georgia, who killed two teachers and students on a school campus this week, was raised in a troubled home, media reports said.
Colt Gray, the baby-face Georgia school shooting suspect who is charged with murdering two classmates and two teachers, grew up in a broken and neglectful home, which police and child services visited on a regular basis, a former neighbour and landlord told The New York Post.
His mother, Marcee, 43, has a lengthy rap sheet with drug and domestic violence arrests, the American newspaper reported.
His father Colin Gray said son was bullied at school, called ‘gay’ by classmates, reported Fox News. Colin Gray was arrested with authorities saying he ‘knowingly allowed his son’ to have the weapon.
According to 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, as quoted by Fox News.
“I was trying to get him on the golf team … like, ‘Oh look Colt’s gay. He’s dating that guy.’ Just ridiculed him day after day after day,” his father said.
Colin Gray has been arrested with four counts of Involuntary Manslaughter, two charges of Second Degree Murder and eight of Cruelty to Children, said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
Meanwhile, Lauren Vickers, who lived next-door to the Grays in Jefferson, Georgia, told The New York Post that there were “problems immediately” when the Grays and their three children moved into the well-manicured neighborhood 60 miles east of Atlanta in 2022.
“There were nights where the mom would lock him and his sister out of the house. And they would be banging on the back door, just screaming like ‘Mom! mom! mom!’ and crying. It was absolutely devastating,” she said.
Colt Gray was charged with four counts of felony murder in connection to the shooting at Apalachee High School, an incident which left the country shocked.
“He was taken to the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center. Additional charges are expected,” GBI said in a statement.
Gun and holiday present
Before the charges against Colin Gray were announced Thursday, two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation told CNN that the father informed authorities that he purchased the AR-style rifle used in the Apalachee High School shooting as a holiday present for his son in December 2023.
Investigation ongoing
GBI said the investigation into the shooting at Apalachee High School is still active and ongoing.
Victims identified
Two students and two teachers died in the shooting incident in the school which is located in Winder city.
GBI identified the two deceased students as Mason Schermerhorn (14) and Christian Angulo (14).
The teachers, who lost their lives in the shooting incident, were identified Richard Aspinwall (39) and Cristina Irimie (53).
This was the 45th mass shooting in a US school in 2024.
It was the deadliest shooting incident since March 2023 when six people died after a gunman attacked The Covenant School in Nashville.
