Father of Colt Gray, Georgia school shooting suspect, arrested

The father of the 14-year-old suspect in Wednesday’s Apalachee High School shooting has been arrested, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed Thursday night.

Colin Gray, the 54-year-old father of Colt Gray, was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

The charges are based on “knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference Thursday night.

Gray previously told investigators that he bought the guns his son used in the December 2023 shooting as a Christmas present, CNN reported, citing law enforcement sources.

Hosey also confirmed that the office investigated reports of “other students making threats at various schools across our state today.” Investigators “acted quickly” and made arrests, Hosey said, but did not provide other details about the threats.

The deadly shooting in Winder, Georgia left two students and two teachers dead, and nine people injured.

The nine injured students and teachers will “make a full recovery,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said at the news conference. “Several of them are still in the hospital, some have been released,” he added, without confirming the actual numbers.

Police reportedly questioned the suspected shooter last year. The FBI announced Wednesday that they had previously investigated online threats from a suspect that included photos of guns.

Investigators with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office tracked down the suspect and interviewed him and his father, who said his son “had no supervision” of his hunting rifles, the FBI said. The local sheriff’s office then alerted school officials to monitor the situation.

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On Thursday, CNN released an audio recording of the sheriff’s office interrogating father and son, in which Colin confirmed to investigators that he had guns in his home that were accessible to his son.

“I mean, there’s nothing loaded, but they’re down,” Colin said. “We actually shoot a lot, we hunt a lot. He shot his first deer this year.”

Colin told investigators that his son claimed his account had been hacked, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by The New York TimesThe father reportedly told investigators he would be “furious as hell” if his son made the threats, and that “all the guns would go away.”

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Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum told The Associated Press that her office “has not dropped the ball in this case.” She claimed that investigators had no evidence to file charges after the interview.

Colin’s arrest marks the second time a parent of a school shooter has been charged in connection with the crime. James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the teenager convicted of killing four people and wounding seven at Oxford High School in Michigan, were charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent their son’s attack.

Prosecutors alleged that James Crumbley bought the gun his son used in the shooting, which his mother gave him as an early Christmas present. Both parents were arrested by U.S. Marshals after fleeing the Detroit suburb, and were found days later after a tense manhunt. The couple were both sentenced to at least 10 years in prison.