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New York Post
FBI issued dire warnings about alleged Georgia school shooter – but cops quickly shut probe
By Chris Nesi,
6 hours ago
The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued dire warnings about Colt Gray’s troubling online activities more than a year before he allegedly shot up his Georgia high school — but cops closed their investigation in just two days without removing any guns from the home.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s office paid a visit to Gray’s home after receiving a tip from the FBI in May 2023 that Colt had threatened to shoot up a middle school on Discord, an online messaging service popular with gamers, according to police report documents viewed by The Post.
Officers spoke to Colin Gray — Colt’s father — as well as Colt himself, then 13 years old.
Cops visited the Grays’ home last May after an FBI report warning Colt, then 13, had made online threats to shoot up a middle school. via REUTERS
Colt told police he had deleted his Discord account and “expressed concern” that someone was falsely accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school — insisting he “would never say such a thing, even as a joke.”
Colin admitted there were “hunting rifles” in the house and that Colt had occasional supervised access to them.
The officers urged him to keep his guns under lock and key and advised them to keep Colt out of school “until this matter could be resolved,” but school was already out for the year.
The case was closed after police were unable to substantiate the FBI reports. REUTERS
Police then reviewed the FBI tip two days later and zeroed in on a Discord account created after Colt claimed to have deleted his that used several different IP addresses in different states.
A photo attachment included with the tip showed the profile name was written in Russian and translated as “Lanza,” which investigators note is a reference to Adam Lanza, who shot up Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. in 2012.
Upon bringing this information back to the Gray’s home, Colin told police that Colt did not know or speak Russian and that the boy claimed to have stopped using Discord because “too many people kept hacking his account.”
Gray has been arrested for shooting and killing two students and two teachers. 11Alive
The dad added that his son “was afraid someone would use his information for nefarious purposes,” the report states.
Being unable to substantiate the threat or definitively link Colt or Colin to the Discord account, the police shelved the matter.
Some 15 months later, Colt would allegedly open fire at Apalachee High School, killing two students and two teachers and putting nine others in the hospital.
A message seeking comment sent to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division was not returned.
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