Teen Sentenced to Life in Prison for Georgia School Shooting That Killed 4

A judge ruled on Tuesday that a Georgia teenager must spend the rest of his life in jail for killing four people in a 2024 school shooting.

Colt Gray, who is now 16, pleaded guilty Friday to killing two students and two teachers, and injuring nine others on Sept. 4, 2024, when he opened fire at Apalachee High School with a rifle he had received as a Christmas present from ​his father.

He was sentenced Tuesday on 55 counts, including murder and assault charges, without a plea deal with prosecutors.

Murder carries a mandatory life sentence in Georgia, with Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm’s only decision being whether the teen would ever be eligible for parole, which he ruled against. 

“You do not seem to be tormented by what you did,” Primm said. “You seem to relish following in the footsteps of the murderers you idolize.”

He told Gray that while the teen had been failed by his parents, extended family and, to a certain extent, society, “that failure does not absolve you from who you chose to idolize, worship, and become.”

District Attorney Brad Smith argued Gray “cannot be in society,” saying investigators did not find any evidence he could develop a conscience or fully value human life. 

Defense attorney W. Charlton Allen objected, arguing that Gray was “not irretrievably broken” and that the chance of parole would offer him “an opportunity of hope.”

Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting.

An additional teacher and eight students were wounded, seven by gunfire. Family members and survivors, who spoke almost uniformly, asked for life without parole.

Shayna Aspinwall, the widow of a teacher, discussed “a life sentence of grief and trauma for those left behind.”

Investigators argued Gray idolized mass shooters and sought notoriety in an online “true crime community.” 

Prosecutors played detention-center phone calls in which Gray inquired with his mother about online “fan art” and comments being made about him. They said he planted “Easter eggs” modeled after other attacks in a desire for lasting fame.

Gray’s maternal grandmother, Debbie Polhamus, testified Gray had a troubled childhood and grew “highly agitated and aggressive” ahead of the shooting. She said she called upon his parents to get him help. 

She said after treatment and medication in detention, he showed signs of improvement and expressed a desire to pursue his GED. A state official who handled his case described a marked change once contact with his mother became restricted and medication started.

Father’s Conviction

The plea and sentencing follows the March conviction of Gray’s father, Colin Gray, on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors successfully argued the elder Gray gifted his son the assault-style rifle used in the attack and neglected repeated warnings about his son’s mental state.

Colt Gray, who was then 14, brought the rifle to school hidden in his backpack, took the bus, asked a teacher for permission to leave class to speak with someone, went to a restroom, and then came out and began firing. 

School resource officers discovered him moments after the first reports; he surrendered at 10:26 a.m. He did not have any accomplices. 

Gray had been interviewed by Jackson County deputies in May 2023 after the FBI received anonymous tips about online school-shooting threats linked to him, which he denied. 

Prosecutors later said investigators discovered a shrine in his bedroom to the Parkland shooter and that the elder Gray was aware of his son’s obsession. 

Colt Gray, who was charged a day after the shooting, told an investigator he had become obsessed with the Parkland shooter “on an emotional level.”

It was the first time in Georgia’s history that a parent of a school-shooting suspect faced related charges. 

A notebook found after the shooting had a step-by-step plan written in it, casualty estimates, and notations, such as, “Don’t shoot anyone in the bathroom. You will alert people.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.