THE suspected Apalachee High School shooter attempted to distance himself from a Discord account that had threatened to shoot up a middle school after being quizzed by investigators.
Colt Gray, 14, was on the FBI‘s radar a year before he allegedly stormed his high school with an AR-15-style rifle, killing two students and two teachers and injuring nine others.
People attend a vigil at Jug Tavern Park following a shooting at Apalachee High School on Wednesday[/caption]
The AR-15-style rifle Colt Gray allegedly used to kill four and injure nine others[/caption]
A vigil was held at Jug Tavern Park on Wednesday[/caption]
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Jefferson, Georgia, about 25 miles northeast of the site of the school shooting, was made aware by federal officials of disturbing threats being posted on the popular gaming platform on May 21, 2023.
The FBI informed sheriff officials that a “Colin Gray” had posted on a Discord group chat about “possibly threatening to shoot up a middle school tomorrow.”
Federal officials received several tips about the menacing threats from IP addresses in California, Australia, and a third from Los Angeles.
Officials provided deputies with an address in Jackson, but when they arrived, officials learned Gray had been evicted about three months before.
Deputies were able to track down Gray’s new address and learned he had a son, Colt Gray, who was 13 years old at the time.
What we know so far…
- Four people are dead, and nine others were injured, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations confirmed.
- Students Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie were identified as those killed.
- 14-year-old student Colt Gray was named as the suspected shooter.
- Gray and his dad were interviewed by the FBI a year before after authorities received online threats of a possible school shooting.
- A classmate said Gray was blocked from entering a classroom by a student who spotted his gun.
- Students gathered on the football field after the attack.
- President Biden and Vice President Harris were briefed.
- Devastating texts revealed student’s fear.
When investigators pressed Gray about the threats, the father was clueless about the messaging platform.
“Colin stated he does not know what Discord is, stating that he works full time and does not play video games,” investigators wrote in their report.
That’s when deputies turned their attention to Colt.
Colt told investigators he stopped using Discord about three months ago when the family moved to their new address.
The teen denied ever posting the threats, telling officials “someone was accusing him of threatening to shoot up a shoot,” and said he would “never say such a thing.”
However, investigators noted the teen expressed his concerns in a “joking manner.”
As Jackson County deputies continued pressing the father and son, they learned Gray had firearms in the house, stating they were “hunting rifles.”
Gray informed the deputies that his son was only allowed to use the weapons when supervised and “did not have unfettered access to them.”
SANDY HOOK LINK
Investigators strongly urged Gray to “keep the firearms locked away” and advised him to pull his son out of school until the matter was resolved.
Deputies said screengrab attachments were also shared in the tips, including the Discord user’s name, which was written in Russian.
The Russian translation of the user name spelled out the name Lanza, which referred to Adam Lanza, the gunman behind the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
When pressed on the username, Gray said his son did not understand or speak Russian.
Colt told investigators that he stopped using Discord because “too many people kept hacking his account, and he was afraid someone would use his information for nefarious purposes.”
Investigators ended the probe after determining there was no probable cause to arrest the father and son or definitively link them to the gaming account.
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