Colin Gray Trial Begins: Opening Statements Unfold in High-Profile Georgia School Shooting Case

WINDER, Ga. — The trial of a father, whose teenage son is accused of a tragic school shooting, is set to begin with opening statements on Monday. The incident, which occurred in September 2024 at a Georgia high school, resulted in the deaths of two students and two teachers.

This case is part of a growing trend nationwide where prosecutors seek to hold parents accountable in instances where their children are involved in fatal shootings. Colin Gray, the father in question, faces 29 charges. These include two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and multiple counts of second-degree cruelty to children, all related to the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.

The indictment alleges that Gray allowed his son, Colt, access to both a firearm and ammunition despite having received warnings that Colt posed a danger to others. Prosecutors contend that this negligence constitutes cruelty to children. Under Georgia law, second-degree murder is defined as causing a child’s death through the act of cruelty to children.

The trial is taking place in Winder, Barrow County, where the shooting occurred. Although the defense requested a change of venue due to pretrial publicity, the trial remains in Winder. However, jurors have been brought in from neighboring Hall County to ensure impartiality. Jury selection concluded last week.

According to investigators, Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time, meticulously planned the shooting on September 4, 2024, at the school, which serves 1,900 students and is located northeast of Atlanta.

With a semiautomatic rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, he boarded the school bus, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways, they said.

An investigator testified at a pretrial hearing that Colin Gray had given his son the gun as a gift the Christmas before the shooting and bought a larger magazine so the weapon could hold more rounds.

Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, prosecutors have said. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified that the teen’s parents had discussed their son’s fascination with school shooters but decided that it was in a joking context and not a serious issue.

Colin Gray was also aware his son’s mental health had deteriorated and had sought help from a counseling service weeks before the shooting, an investigator testified.

“We have had a very difficult past couple of years and he needs help. Anger, anxiety, quick to be volatile. I don’t know what to do,” Colin Gray wrote about his son.