A 14-year-old boy, Colt Gray, has been charged with four counts of murder after allegedly shooting and killing two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Georgia, USA. The shooting occurred on Wednesday morning, prompting a large police response as students and teachers fled to an American football field for safety.
Despite being a minor, Gray’s identity has been publicly released by the police. The teenager reportedly surrendered after being confronted by school resource officers inside the school. His father, Colin Gray, has also been arrested and faces two counts of second-degree murder.
What we know about Gray:
According to Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Gray was a student at Apalachee High School. Law enforcement officers and school resource officers responded swiftly to reports of an active shooter. Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith stated that one of the officers engaged Gray, and he surrendered without resistance, realizing the situation would escalate into an officer-involved shooting if he did not give up.
Gray has been charged with four counts of felony murder, but authorities have yet to determine a motive. Sheriff Smith acknowledged that it is unclear whether the victims were specifically targeted or if there was any connection between them and the shooter. “I don’t know why it happened, and we may never know,” he added.
The attack was carried out with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle, a type of weapon often associated with school shootings.
It has also come to light that Gray was previously investigated by police over threats to carry out a similar attack last year. The FBI received several anonymous tips about online threats, in which Gray allegedly posted images of guns and made references to committing a school shooting. At the time, Gray and his father were interviewed, with the father admitting to owning hunting guns but asserting that his son did not have unsupervised access to them. Gray denied making the threats, and there was no probable cause for arrest at that time, though local schools were alerted for ongoing monitoring.
Authorities are now re-investigating this past incident, as well as any involvement by the Department of Family and Children Services with Gray and his family, to explore potential connections to the recent tragedy.
