Georgia: Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspect in a shooting that killed four people at a Georgia high school earlier this week, is currently in custody along with his father Colin Gray, who allegedly "knowingly allowed" him access to an AR-15 rifle. The teenager has been charged with four counts of murder and was told that the maximum penalty he would face is life without parole for Wednesday's attack that shook the country.
The father and son appeared in back-to-back hearings on Friday morning with about 50 onlookers in the courtroom, where workers had placed boxes of tissues along the benches, in addition to members of the media and sheriff’s deputies. Colin Gray has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder related to the shooting.
The charges come five months after Michigan parents Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first convicted in a US mass school shooting and sentenced to 10 years in prison for not securing a firearm at home and ignoring their son Ethan Crumbley's deteriorating mental health before he killed four students at a Michigan school in 2021. The Georgia incident has also renewed debate about safe storage laws for guns amid rising violence.
Colt Gray's broken, neglectful family
Colt Gray has been accused of using a “black semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle” to ill Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53 at the Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta. Additional charges will be filed against him, according to authorities.
Colt apparently grew up in a broken and neglectful home which was often visited by police and child services, a former neighbour and landlord told the New York Post. His mother Marcee, 43, had a lengthy criminal history with drug and domestic violence arrests. His father Colin, 54, had allegedly bought his son an AR-15 rifle as a Christmas present.
Lauren Vickers, who lived next door to the family, said there were "problems immediately" when the Grays and their three children moved into the neighbourhood. "There were nights where the mom would lock him and his sister out the house. And they would be banging on the back door, just screaming like ‘Mom! mom! mom!’ and crying. It was absolutely devastating," she said.
'Constant abuse'
Vickers said the youngest child would sometimes come to her backyard asking for food without clean clothes. "It was constant abuse. It’s very, very sad," she added. Colt's maternal grandfather told CNN that he was "just a good kid" living in a hostile environment where his dad beat him up.
"I’m not talking about physical, but screaming and hollering, and he did the same thing to my daughter,” Charles Polhamus said, adding that the experience deeply affected the teenager's upbringing. Colt’s aunt, Annie Brown, said he was struggling with mental health issues and had been “begging for help from everybody around him” months before the shooting.
Colt's mother Marcee was arrested several times for domestic violence, drug possession, property damage and various traffic violations, including driving under the influence charges. She also faced civil fraud charges over the purchase of a used vehicle and was locked up in Ben Hill County as recently as April. She later left the family home, according to her social media accounts and neighbours.
“I would find her in the driveway, passed out, with the car running and blaring music early in the morning,” Vickers said, speaking of Marcee, whom she claims habitually abused drugs and alcohol. She further said Colt often skipped school, wandered around the woods and nearby houses.
US investigators seeking to understand the suspect’s motive are looking into his family’s previous contacts with the state’s child protective services agency. Colt has been charged as an adult on Thursday and made his first court appearance on Friday.
(with agency input)
ALSO READ | US: Father of Georgia school shooting suspect arrested for 'knowingly allowing' access to firearm
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