Georgia teen school shooting suspect lived in series of rental homes as emerging details shed light on family
WINDER, Ga – A timeline of where the 14-year-old Georgia high school student lived in a short period of time sheds light on his tumultuous home life.
Colt Gray, 14, and his father, Colin Gray, 54, are charged in the killings of two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Barrow County. Nine others were hurt, with seven of the injured shot.
The teen’s childhood was unstable, with the young teen moving to at least three rental homes in a short period of time.
According to the teen’s father, in recently released police interrogation transcripts, “[Colt’s] gone through a lot,” with Colin Gray saying that the teen wanted a “simple life.”
Jefferson, Georgia Homes:
The Grays lived in two rental properties in Jefferson, Georgia – a small town with approximately 15,000 people.
The family lived in one rental property, with the current tenant telling police that the family had been evicted in May 2022, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
The subsequent divorce between Colin and Marcee Gray separated the family of five. Colt went to live with his father, while the two younger siblings initially lived with their mother.
Apalachee school shooter Colt Gray and his father Colin Gray’s former neighborhood in Jefferson, Georgia. Saturday, September 7, 2024. (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)
Following the divorce, Colin and Colt Gray rented another single family home in a subdivision in the town.
Neighbors told Fox News Digital that they lived there only for a “couple of months” before leaving.
Apalachee school shooter suspect Colt Gray and his father Colin Gray’s former home in Jefferson, Georgia. Saturday, September 7, 2024. The pair rented the home. (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)
The Jefferson rental home was where police interviewed Colt and Colin after the teen, in May 2023, had allegedly made violent threats to shoot up the middle school.
In interview transcripts, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Colin Gray is heard telling investigators that his son struggled with his parent’s divorce.
The father said that his son “had some problems” at his previous middle school, West Jackson Middle School, but it had “gotten a lot better” since he changed schools to Jefferson Middle School. The previous middle school was approximately 70 miles north of Jefferson, Georgia.
WHO IS THE ALLEGED GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTER? WHAT WE KNOW
Interview transcripts, taken by Investigator Dan Miller in 2023, cast the teen as someone who had been picked on and “ridiculed” by classmates.
“[Colt] just wants us to have a simple life. All that like, he should be excited about getting into 8th grade. It just was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on by, you know, it went from one thing to another to, you know, he was talking to the couple friends he has,” said Gray.
“I was trying to get him on the golf team … like, ‘Oh look Colt’s gay. He’s dating that guy.’ Just ridiculed him day after day after day.”
General view of the home of alleged Apalachee school shooter Colt Gray and his father Colin Gray on Harrison Mill Road in Winder. Friday, September 6, 2024. (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)
Winder, Georgia Home:
By Nov. 2023, Colin and Colt had moved to a new rental property in Winder, Georgia. The Winder address is where the teen boy resided prior to his arrest following the school massacre on Wednesday.
The home is where Colt’s mother went and vandalized her ex-husband’s truck in Nov. 2023 in a violent rampage that resulted in prison time.
According to court documents, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Marcee Anne Gray, came to the Winder, Georgia rental property and scratched two words into her ex’s truck, which was owned by the construction company he worked for.
The damages cost approximately $3,000 to fix, court documents said.
Marcee Anne Gray in a 2023 booking photo from the Ben Hill County Sheriff’s Office. (Ben Hill County Sheriff Office)
A subsequent search of the mother’s vehicle resulted in a slew of charges after authorities found illicit drugs hidden inside.
The arrest warrant states that Gray had a glass jar containing methamphetamine, a “baggie” containing fentanyl, another “baggie” containing multiple muscle relaxants, and a glass pipe “used for the ingestion of narcotics.”
The warrant notes that she concealed the identity of her Nissan Rogue vehicle by affixing a tag for a Nissan Kick.
In December 2023, Marcee Gray was charged and pleaded guilty to single counts of using a license plate to conceal identity, criminal damage to property in the second degree and criminal trespass/family violence.
Marcee Gray was prosecuted under Georgia’s First Offender Act, which allows eligible defendants to plead guilty without being convicted. Under the state’s First Offender Act, Gray served the first 46 days in confinement in jail, rather than the full 5 years of her sentence.
For the remainder of the sentence, she was on probation.
Under probation, documents show that Gray was prohibited from having any contact with her husband, Colin Gray, except through a third party for matters concerning their shared children.
Timeline of Mass Shooting
The shooting was first reported at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The sheriff’s office received an alert of reports of an active shooter at 10:20 a.m.
GBI director Chris Hosey said law enforcement was at the scene “within minutes.”
“Law enforcement had a very, very swift response to this incident,” Hosey previously said.
Officers located Colt Gray swiftly, with the teen suspect being taken into custody.
The 14-year-old is being tried as an adult and is being charged with four counts of murder. He is accused of using a semiautomatic AR-style rifle to kill two fellow students and two teachers.
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
His father, Colin Gray, faces related charges in the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings.
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“You don’t have to have been physically injured in this to be a victim,” District Attorney Brad Smith told reporters on Friday. “Everyone in this community is a victim. Every child in that school was a victim.”
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
