Father of Georgia school shooting suspect requests separate jailing after threats

Colin Gray, the father of accused Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, asked a Georgia judge on Wednesday to keep him separate from other jail inmates because of the "incalculable number of threats" of violence and harm against him, including death threats, according to a motion filed by his attorneys.

The "nonstop barrage" of public information about the shooting, which saw four people killed at the Winder, Georgia, high school, stirred "feelings of anger and retribution manifested in the collective psyche, of both the public and community at large," Gray's attorneys wrote.

In the Barrow County Detention Center, where Gray is being held without bond, "opportunities abound" for other inmates to attack him, according to the motion.

"So many lives in the community of Barrow County have been touched in unfathomable ways, it would be reckless to assume there are NO inmates, either currently or in the near future" who want to harm Gray, his attorneys wrote.

Gray is jailed on charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, and cruelty to children in the crimes of which his son is accused. If convicted, he would be the third parent held responsible for a school shooting allegedly carried out by his child, after the parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley were sentenced to at least a decade in prison each in April.

Colt Gray, 14, faces four felony murder charges in connection with the deaths of fellow students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Ricky Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Officials say he is suspected of shooting them dead in the Sept. 4 school shooting after bringing a gun into school in his backpack. Nine other people – eight students and one teacher – were injured.

Brian Hobbs and Jimmy Berry, attorneys for the elder Gray, did not immediately respond to USA TODAY'S request for comment.

More:What to know about the panic buttons used by staff members at Apalachee High School

Officials: Gray allowed son to possess weapon

The shooting stirred collective grief in the rural Georgia town. As the town grappled with the deadliest school shooting this year, anger and questions surfaced of how a gun got into the alleged shooter's hands.

Investigators say the elder Gray allowed his son to possess a firearm in the lead-up to the shooting. Bodycam footage released earlier this week showed a visit law enforcement paid to the Gray home in May of 2023 after the FBI received a tip that an account on social media platform Discord possibly linked to Colt Gray posted threats to commit a school shooting.

During the visit, Colin Gray told officers that his son had access to guns, but that he knew "the seriousness of weapons." He said he was teaching his son about gun safety and took him shooting and deer hunting "a lot," according to the video.

Gray said he and his son understood the seriousness of the online threats. "I'm going to be mad as hell if he did and then all the guns will go away," he told the officers.

Although schools were notified about the threats and authorities told Colin Gray to keep his son out of school, officers didn't have the probable cause to make an arrest, the FBI's Atlanta division said.

Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. Reach her on email at [email protected]. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.