The mother of Georgia school shooting suspect Colt Gray told a courtroom Monday that she warned the teen’s father to secure firearms in their home before the deadly attack at Apalachee High School.
Marcee Gray took the witness stand in the criminal trial of Colin Gray, testifying that she specifically asked him to store the weapons in his vehicle where her son couldn’t reach them.
“They need to be locked somewhere,” she informed jurors in the Winder, Georgia courtroom. “Initially he said he would.”
Her testimony launched the second week of proceedings against Colin Gray, who is facing 29 criminal charges including two second-degree murder counts and two involuntary manslaughter counts. Legal officials argue the father bears responsibility for providing his son with the firearm used in the attack, which he had given as a holiday present despite apparent warning signals about the boy’s mental state.
The younger Gray, age 14 during the September 4, 2024 incident, is charged with 55 counts including murder for the deaths of four individuals and 25 aggravated assault charges. Authorities allege he methodically planned the assault at the Winder school that claimed the lives of two educators and two students while injuring multiple others.
Last week’s court sessions included emotional testimony from Georgia students who described the terror of being wounded during their math class. Through tears, they recalled witnessing a fellow student lying in blood and discovering their own injuries while fearing for their lives. Evidence has also emerged about what prosecutors call a “shrine” honoring a Florida school attacker that Colt maintained near his home computer.
The case represents part of a growing trend nationwide where prosecutors seek to hold parents accountable when their children commit fatal school shootings.
During the months preceding the shooting, Colt’s parents had separated, with the teenager primarily residing with his father. Marcee Gray faces no charges related to the school attack.
She revealed that Colt showed fascination with Nikolas Cruz, who was convicted for the 2018 Parkland, Florida shooting that killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. However, Marcee Gray explained she initially viewed her son’s interest as comparable to her own attraction to true crime programming.
She recounted a disturbing conversation where Colt mentioned using tactical gear his father purchased to complete what he called his “school shooter outfit,” though he claimed to be joking.
“He was talking about a vest, his dad buying him a vest, and he said it in what I thought was a joking manner because he was laughing,” she testified. “He was talking about getting the vest and he said ‘yeah, I’ve got to finish my school shooter outfit,’ or something like that or ‘dad’s going to finish my finish my school shooter outfit.’”
Defense attorney Brian Hobbs, representing Colin Gray, maintains that his client couldn’t have known about the shooting plans because “the planning and timing were hidden by Colt Gray from his father.”
“That’s the difference between tragedy and criminal liability,” Hobbs previously stated. “You cannot hold someone criminally responsible for failing to predict what was intentionally hidden from them.”
Investigators say Colt Gray concealed a semiautomatic rifle in his backpack, with the barrel protruding and covered by poster board, when he boarded his school bus. After leaving his second-period class, he reportedly retrieved the weapon from a restroom and opened fire in classrooms and hallways.
District Attorney Brad Smith told jurors during opening statements that Colin Gray had presented the firearm to his son as a Christmas present and subsequently purchased additional equipment, including “a lot of ammunition.”
An investigator testified that Colin Gray was aware of his son’s declining mental health and had contacted counseling services weeks before the tragedy.
“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.
Despite these concerns, Smith noted that Colin Gray never completed the process of having his son admitted to an inpatient treatment facility.
