ON COPS RADAR
Bodycam shows Apalachee ‘killer’ Colt Gray & dad Colin being quizzed by officers over teen’s Discord ‘shooting threats’
Colt Gray appeared nervous as he approached officers and his father
BODYCAM footage of cops questioning Colt Gray and his father a year before the deadly Apalachee High School shooting has been released.
Gray, 14, was arrested and charged with four counts of felony murder after the shooting that killed four and injured nine in on Wednesday.
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His father, Colin Gray, was later arrested and charged after allegations that he "knowingly allowed" his son to have a gun and had given him the AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting as a Christmas gift, cops claim.
After the teenager's arrest for carrying out the state's deadliest school shooting, it was revealed that the FBI had interviewed the father and son last year over school shooting threats made online.
In May 2023, a Discord account that was traced to the Gray household in Georgia threatened to "commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time," the FBI revealed in a .
The threats also included images of firearms.
read more on Colt Gray
It comes as...
- Suspect Colt Gray, 14, and dad Colin appear in court for the first time
- Dad's 'Russian roulette' move before shooting forced ‘uncharted’ charges
- Grandad opens up on ‘abuse’ and mom’s drug arrest revealed
- Father 'boasted' about son's first kill and bought him deadly rifle as a Christmas gift
- Grandad calls for Gray's father to get the death penalty
Now, footage of the first interview with cops as part of last year's investigation has been released.
Officers from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office arrived at the Gray family home in Jefferson and initially spoke to Colin before asking to see his son who was 13 at the time.
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'NO JOKE'
In the footage, officers confront Colin, who looked unphased while being asked about the disturbing online threats.
He opened a canned beverage and sat down on a chair on the porch as officers asked if he had any children and if his son played lots of video games, to which he said "he does."
When officers ask the father if they can speak to Colt, he goes to get his son before turning to them and warning them about the teenager's reaction.
"Now look, he gonna get all red-faced when you talk to him...just calm alright?" Gray told officers.
Apalachee ‘shooter’ Colt Gray’s dad boasted to cops about son shooting first deer - year before high school massacre
"It's a little bit of a shock...Please instill in him that whatever or wherever this is coming from, this is no joke."
The father also revealed that his son was "getting picked on at school" and that he had been trying to get him into nature more while teaching him about firearms which he admitted his son had access to.
"Do you think there's something he might want to?" the cop asked.
"I damn sure want to know," the father replied, adding that he would be "mad as hell" if his son had made the threats and that "all the guns would go away" if he had.
Timeline of Apalachee High School shooting
Below is a timeline of the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on September 4:
8:30 am - First period begins at AHS
9:45 am - Suspect Colt Gray leaves algebra class, according to his classmate
10:20 am - Police start to receive calls about an active shooter
10:23 am - Law enforcement officers are dispatched to school and arrive in minutes
10:45 am - AHS sends message to parents saying the school is in a hard lockdown
11:20 am - Students are evacuated to the football field
11:56 am - Barrow County Sheriff’s Office reports a suspect is in custody
2:13 pm - Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirms four people were killed and nine were hospitalized with injuries
Colt appeared nervous as he came out of the house in a blue T-shirt, sweatpants, and a blue baseball cap with a cross on a chain around his neck.
The teenager had his hands shoved in his pockets as he spoke to officers about the allegations.
He repeatedly denied having anything to do with the threats while continually shifting his weight from foot to foot.
"Did you say something about shooting up a school?" one of the officers asked Gray.
"Never, I just told him, I don't know what, maybe they misheard somebody else, I don't remember saying..." he replied.
Gray later claimed that he no longer used Discord and had deleted it a few months ago because he worried about his account being hacked.
"I mean I'm not trying to get anyone hemmed up or anything,' the officer said, "but this is some serious stuff," the officer told him.
"Oh he knows how serious it is, trust me," Gray's father interrupted while staring at the floor.
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TAKE YOUR WORD
As the interview came to an end, the officer tried one more time to get the full story from the teenager, saying, "I take you at your word."
"If you look me in the eye and tell me that's what you're telling me?"
Gray nodded and quietly said, "Yes, sir," before the officer said he was left with "no choice" but to "take him at his word."
"But like I was telling your dad if we find out otherwise then it's a different story," he warned.
The probe ended when cops determined there was not enough evidence to link Gray or his father to the threats.
Just months later, Colin would gift his son an AR-15-style rifle for Christmas.
Colin Gray faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children.
If convicted, he could get 180 years behind bars, though an expert told The U.S. Sun that he may be able to dodge a life sentence.
Colt Gray will be tried as an adult and was told at a hearing on Friday morning that he would not get the death penalty because he is under the age of 18.
If convicted, he faces life in prison.
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The Grays will be kept in custody and will appear in court on December 4.
No pleas were entered at either hearing on Friday morning.
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