### Father and Son Indicted in Connection with Apalachee High School Mass Shooting

In a tragic incident that has rocked the community of Winder, Georgia, a grand jury has indicted a father and son in the wake of a devastating mass shooting at Apalachee High School. On Thursday, the Barrow County grand jury handed down a total of 55 counts against 14-year-old Colt Gray, including four counts each of malice murder and felony murder, along with charges of aggravated assault and cruelty to children. His father, Colin Gray, was similarly charged with 29 counts, ranging from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.

According to Missy Headrick, deputy court clerk, these indictments were filed separately and formal processing of the documents would likely not be available until Friday. Both Colin and Colt Gray are scheduled to appear for arraignment on November 21, at which point they will enter formal pleas. Currently, Colin is being held in the Barrow County jail, while Colt, though charged as an adult, is detained in a juvenile facility in Gainesville. Neither has pursued bail, and their attorneys have refrained from public commenting.

Grim details of the shooting came to light during a preliminary hearing for Colin Gray. On September 4, Colt Gray allegedly brought a semiautomatic assault rifle onto his school bus, partially concealed within a book bag and a poster board. The 14-year-old reportedly exited his second-period class, retrieved the weapon from a bathroom, and began shooting both in a classroom and in the hallways. This horrifying event resulted in the deaths of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, as well as students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Additionally, another teacher and eight more students sustained injuries, with seven of them suffering gunshot wounds.

Investigation revealed that Colt Gray had meticulously planned the massacre. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified that Colt left behind a notebook detailing step-by-step instructions, including a diagram of his second-period classroom. The chilling contents indicated his plans to kill as many as 26 people and injure up to 13 others. The notebook included a haunting note: "Surprised if I make it this far."

Signs of Colt's troubled state had been evident for some time. Earlier in May 2023, he and his father had been questioned regarding an online threat linked to him, though Colt had denied the allegations. As a freshman at Apalachee High, Colt missed multiple school days. His deteriorating mental health was apparent on August 14 when he suffered a severe anxiety attack, later confiding suicidal thoughts to a school counselor.

Compounding the tragedy, records show that Colt's mother, Marcee Gray, had implored Colin to secure his firearms and limit Colt's access, which he failed to do. Instead, Colin provided his son with ammunition and gun accessories, despite Colt's alarming plea to be admitted to a mental health facility. Plans to take Colt to an in-patient treatment center fell apart just days before the shooting due to a dispute between his parents over his access to firearms.

The indictment of Colin Gray underscores a growing trend of holding parents accountable in instances of school shootings. Similar to the conviction of Jennifer and James Crumbley in Michigan for a 2021 school shooting, District Attorney Brad Smith emphasized the father's primary custody and awareness of Colt's mental state and violent obsessions. "He had knowledge of Colt's deteriorating mental state. And he provided the firearms and the ammunition that Colt used in this," Smith stated in court.

As the community comes to terms with this harrowing event, the legal proceedings move forward, with hopes for justice and much-needed closure.