ATLANTA — Survivors of a devastating Georgia school shooting broke down in tears Tuesday as they described the terrifying moments when bullets began flying in their classroom two years ago.
The emotional testimony came during the criminal trial of Colin Gray, whose son Colt Gray is accused of orchestrating the deadly September 4, 2024 attack at a high school northeast of Atlanta. The shooting claimed the lives of four people – two educators and two students – while injuring several others.
One ninth-grader described the moment she discovered a bullet wound in her wrist during the chaos in her Algebra I classroom.
“I was also worried that I was going to die and how that would affect my parents because my dad has a heart problem,” the student testified.
As emergency responders evacuated her from the building, she encountered the suspected shooter restrained on the ground and confronted him directly.
“I remember yelling at him that we were kids, because we were kids,” she said during testimony where her face was not shown due to her age.
The case represents part of a growing national trend where prosecutors seek to hold parents accountable when their children carry out mass shootings.
Colt Gray, just 14 when the attack occurred, is facing 29 criminal charges including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and multiple counts of cruelty to children.
District Attorney Brad Smith argued in opening statements Monday that Colin Gray bears responsibility for giving his son access to deadly weapons after receiving clear warnings about potential violence.
“This case is about this defendant and his actions in allowing a child that he has custody over access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that that child was going to harm others,” Smith told jurors.
Defense attorney Brian Hobbs countered that the father couldn’t have prevented what his son deliberately concealed from him.
“That’s the difference between tragedy and criminal liability,” Hobbs argued. “You cannot hold someone criminally responsible for failing to predict what was intentionally hidden from them.”
Investigators revealed that Colt Gray transported a semi-automatic rifle to school hidden in his backpack, with the barrel protruding and concealed by poster board. After leaving his second-period class, he retrieved the weapon from a restroom and opened fire in classrooms and corridors.
The prosecution outlined a disturbing pattern of warning signs that preceded the attack. In September 2021, school officials discovered Colt had searched “how to kill your dad” on a school computer, though authorities later dismissed it as a misunderstanding.
More significantly, 16 months before the shooting in May 2023, federal authorities contacted the family after tracing online threats against an elementary school to their home computer. When questioned about his son’s gun access, Colin Gray assured investigators that they “take this school shooting stuff very seriously.”
Despite these red flags, Colin Gray purchased the rifle as a Christmas gift for his son that year and continued buying accessories and large quantities of ammunition afterward.
Prosecutors revealed that Colin Gray was aware of his son’s disturbing obsession with previous school shooters, including maintaining what they described as a shrine to the Parkland, Florida gunman in his bedroom.
Perhaps most chilling was a text message Colin Gray received from his son just three weeks before the attack: “Whenever something happens, just know the blood is on your hands.”
Court testimony also revealed that Colin Gray recognized his son’s declining mental health and had reached out to counseling services weeks before the shooting.
“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’s condition.
However, prosecutors argue that despite expressing these concerns, Colin Gray failed to follow through on getting his son admitted to an inpatient mental health facility.
