Colt Gray guilty plea entered in Apalachee High School shooting case
Colt Gray entered a non-negotiated plea in the Georgia school shooting case that left four people dead and nine wounded.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
3 min read
Colt Gray, the teen charged as an adult in the Apalachee High School shooting, entered a guilty plea at a hearing in Barrow County Superior Court, CBS News reported. The Colt Gray guilty plea comes in the case over the Sept. 4, 2024 attack in Winder, Georgia, that killed four people and wounded nine others.
Gray had previously pleaded not guilty. Court filings made earlier in July showed he could change that plea before a jury trial that had been scheduled for the fall, according to CBS News.
Gray faces 55 counts, CBS News reported, including malice murder, aggravated battery and aggravated assault. The report said he faces up to 30 years in prison on the second-degree murder charges and up to 180 years in all.
What is a non-negotiated plea?
A non-negotiated plea means a defendant admits guilt without a sentencing agreement already worked out with prosecutors. In Gray’s case, CBS News reported that the plea could involve one or all of the charges, with punishment left to the court rather than fixed by a deal.
The hearing was set after months in which Gray’s lawyers had indicated they were trying to reach a plea deal for the teen, CBS News reported. Judge Nicholas Primm had set this week as the deadline for a possible plea, and the hearing could continue into the following week if needed.
Primm ordered in June that Gray’s trial be moved to Columbia County, according to CBS News. The judge cited extensive coverage of the case locally, across Georgia and nationally as a reason it would be difficult to seat an unbiased jury in Barrow County, where the shooting happened.
Who was killed and wounded at Apalachee High School?
The victims killed were 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie, CBS News reported. Another teacher and eight students were wounded.
Investigators have said Gray, then 14, brought a semiautomatic assault-style rifle onto a school bus with the barrel sticking out of his book bag and wrapped in poster board, according to CBS News. Investigators said he later left his second-period class, came out of a bathroom with the rifle and fired in a classroom and hallways.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents previously testified that notebooks found in the case included writings about plans to carry out the shooting, including a note that said to “shoot the teacher first,” CBS News reported.
Gray surrendered to school resource officers at the school and has remained in custody since, according to CBS News.
What happened in Colin Gray’s case?
Gray’s father, Colin Gray, was convicted in March on 27 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children, CBS News reported. He was the first parent charged in connection with a mass school shooting in Georgia, according to the report.
Prosecutors said Colin Gray gave his son the gun used in the shooting as a Christmas gift and allowed him access to the weapon and ammunition despite warning signs about the teen’s mental state, CBS News reported.
The prosecution also pointed to evidence it described as an obsession with school shooters, including a “shrine” Colt Gray allegedly built to Nikolas Cruz, who was convicted in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, according to CBS News.
Colin Gray admitted giving his son the rifle but said he hoped to bond with him through hunting and trips to the gun range, CBS News reported. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 30.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.