Colt Gray, the Apalachee High School shooting suspect, walks into the court in Winder, Georgia [Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP]By Al Jazeera Staff and APPublished On 24 Jul 202624 Jul 2026
A teenage suspect has pleaded guilty to 55 charges, including murder, for a 2024 school shooting in the US state of Georgia.
The plea from Colt Gray, 16, came months after his father, Colin Gray, was convicted on charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
The case underscored how prosecutors in the US have increasingly interrogated the parental role in school shootings. The elder Gray was not present during the September 4, 2024 attack on Apalachee High School in Georgia, but had given his then 14-year-old the assault-style rifle he used to kill two students and two teachers.
Those killed included Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, as well as 39-year-old teacher Richard Aspinwall and 53-year-old teacher Cristina Irimie. Another teacher and eight more students were also wounded.
Because Colt Gray pleaded guilty to murder, he faces a minimum sentence of life in prison. His trial was set to begin in mid-October.
Before accepting the plea, Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm asked Gray a series of questions meant to ensure that the teenager was aware of the consequences of his plea and was entering it voluntarily.
Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son Mason was killed, told the judge she did not forgive the 16-year-old suspect.
She said that adults in Cole’s life had missed multiple warning signs, but she held him along responsible for the ultimate decision to go through with the shooting.
“Mason deserved a future, and we all deserved a future with Mason in it, and Colt took that from Mason and everyone who loved him,” she said.
During Colin Gray’s trial, investigators testified that he was aware of his son’s deteriorating mental health and volatility, but he did not follow through on getting the needed help.
Marcee Gray, Colt Gray’s mother, testified that she had urged Colin Gray to secure his weapons and restrict their son’s access to them.
Following the attack, investigators found a shrine in Colt Gray’s bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the attacker in the 2018 mass shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors said.
The US, where its constitution protects the right to “bear arms”, has a high rate of school shootings.
So far this year, there have been 64 incidents on school grounds, including shootings that took place outside of school hours, according to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.
