Students wait to be picked up by their parents after a school shooting took place on Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Georgia. Two Apalachee High School students and two teachers were killed and multiple others injured in the attack. (Megan Varner | Getty Images)
The father of the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting at a Georgia high school has been arrested and is being held at a county detention center, authorities announced Thursday.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that Colin Gray is now detained at the Barrow County Detention Center after he was arrested Thursday on charges of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children connected to the Wednesday morning mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, attended by his 14-year old son.
The teenager, Colt Gray, also faces murder charges for allegedly firing the shots that killed two teachers and two students. Nine other people injured in the shooting are expected to make a full recovery, federal, state and local agencies reported Thursday.
Colt Gray was arrested minutes after law enforcement stormed the school. He is accused of firing bullets from an AR-15 rifle with a collapsible stock police say was used to kill 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo and math teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall.
According to law enforcement officials, the 54-year-old Gray purchased the AR-style gun used in the shooting in December as a Christmas gift for his son. Shortly after the Apalachee High shooting, police confirmed Colt Gray was also interviewed last year as a suspect after posting threatening social media messages targeting a school in Jackson County.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the firearm used in the Barrow shooting was given to Colt Gray his father several months after the Grays were interviewed by Jackson sheriff’s investigators in 2023. Investigators declined to press charges at the time, deciding they lacked probable cause.
In Wisconsin, President Joe Biden prefaced his announcement of a new rural clean energy electrification program Thursday with words of comfort for the victims and survivors of the Georgia shooting and a call for lawmakers to take action.
Biden said the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI were working with state and local law enforcement investigating, and expressed gratitude for school personnel and first responders who he said prevented more casualties and took the suspected gunman into custody.
“But as a nation, we cannot continue to accept the carnage of gun violence,” Biden said. “We need … more than thoughts and prayers. Some of my Republican friends in Congress … just finally have to say, enough is enough.”
Biden said he supports stiffer requirements that firearms at home be stored safely.
“How could you have an assault rifle, a weapon in a house not locked up, and knowing your kid knows where it is?” he said. “Got to hold parents accountable if they let their child have access to these guns.”
He also called for universal background checks and an end to legal immunity for gun manufacturers, calling them “the only outfit in the world that we can’t sue.”
“We have to do something together. Let’s ban assault weapons,” Biden said. “High capacity magazines, once again. What do we need them for in terms of domestic use?”
Portions of this report are republished from Georgia Recorder . Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com . Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and X .
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