(NewsNation) — More than a year before Colt Gray allegedly shot and killed four people at Apalachee High School in Georgia, his father told sheriff’s deputies he would remove guns from the house if he found out his son was making threats online.
In body camera footage obtained by NewsNation, Colin Gray told local sheriff’s deputies last year that the teenager understood the seriousness of making threats of school gun violence.
Colin Gray told Jackson County deputies that he will be “mad as hell” if allegations that his son made online threats of using a gun to harm people at his school were true.
“I’m going to be mad as hell if he did (make threats) and then all the guns will go away and then they won’t be accessible,” Colin Gray told deputies.
The interview with deputies took place in May 2023, more than 15 months before the shooting at Apalachee High School.
Colt Gray, 14, is accused of shooting and killing two students and two teachers at the Winder, Georgia, school. Nine others were injured.
In the interview, Colin Gray tells deputies that he and his son had started deer hunting the previous fall, but that Colt understood the seriousness of using guns in inappropriate ways.
“I take (school gun violence) very serious and so does he,” Colin Gray told deputies in 2023 in the body camera footage, adding, “He knows how to use (guns) and how not to use them.”
The interview took place outside the home Colin and Colt Gray were living after Colin and Colt’s mother separated. Colin told deputies his son had struggled with the split.
He also said Colt had been bullied at school but denied hearing about any threats of gun violence at the middle school that were linked to his son.
Colin Gray then told deputies that his son “doesn’t really think straight” when he gets flustered or feels under pressure. He said he has visited the school’s principal several times to ensure that his son was O.K. while dealing with his parents’ marital situation.
He also told officers that he and Colt discuss the problems with school gun violence and “all the school shootings” constantly. Before deputies spoke to Colt Gray, his father asked deputies to instill the seriousness of the allegations being made.
In speaking with deputies, Colt Gray denied making the threats claiming his Discord account was hacked.
He acknowledged he was bullied by students after switching schools mid-year and also told sheriff’s deputies that he one day hoped to work as a philosopher.
Colin Gray told deputies that his son kept a photo of himself with blood on his face and shooting his first deer on his phone.
Before the interview with sheriff’s deputies ended, Colin Gray told the officers that he and his son would be having “a long conversation” about the allegations.
NewsNation has previously reported that both also met with the FBI over the alleged threats.
According to multiple media reports, Colin Gray purchased the AR-15-style weapon for his son for Christmas in 2023.
Colt Gray will be charged as an adult and faces four counts of felony murder for the deaths of the deaths of 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
Each count carries a maximum possible sentence of death or life in prison, Judge Currie Mingledorff said. But because the alleged shooter is younger than 17, he won’t face the death penalty.
Colin Gray faces involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, and cruelty to children charges. Both remain in custody after they each appeared in court last week.
