E-Paper
Georgia school shooter was physically harassed by bullies, called ‘gay,’ his dad said: ‘He’s going through a lot’
Colt Gray, 14, opened fire at Apalachee High School, killing two students and two teachers.
Alleged Georgia school shooter Colt Gray was physically harassed by bullies and frequently called “gay,” his father told authorities in a phone call last year. Gray, 14, opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder on Wednesday morning, September 4, killing two students and two teachers. Several others were wounded.
‘He’s going through a lot’
Gray’s father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, told authorities in a newly revealed transcript, according to New York Post, “I was trying to get him on the golf team. Like, ‘Oh, look, Colt’s gay.’ ‘He’s dating that guy.’ Just ridiculed him day after day after day.”
“I don’t want him to fight anybody, but they just keep like pinching him and touching him, and that’s a whole different deal,” the dad further said. “And it’s just escalated to point where like his finals were last week and that was a lasting on his mind.”
Gray was 13 at the time, and had landed on the FBI’s radar for allegedly threatening to shoot up a middle school on Discord. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office visited his home at the time, and Colin admitted that his son had access to firearms in the house.
During the phone conversation, Colin told investigators that he introduced to his son bow-hunting, a pellet gun and a .22 rifle and gun safety for deer-hunting. “He’s going through a lot. He just wants us to have a simple life. It was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on,” said Colin.
Gray will be charged with murder as an adult, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said. Colin, too, is facing two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the school shooting. The charges against Colin push the legal limits of parental responsibility for the alleged gun crime committed by a child. The charges include four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children. Each count against Colin accuses him of “providing a firearm to Colt Gray with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others,” his Barrow County arrest warrant affidavit shows, according to CNN.
