Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray sentenced to life without parole - NBC News

What the report says

NBC News reported that Colt Gray, 16, was sentenced Tuesday in Winder, Georgia, to life in prison without parole for the Sept. 4, 2024, attack at Apalachee High School. Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm imposed the sentence after Gray pleaded guilty days earlier to all 55 counts against him, including murder, without a plea agreement that would have settled parole eligibility.

The shooting killed teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. NBC reported that another teacher and eight students were wounded, with seven of the students struck by gunfire. Gray, who was 14 at the time of the attack, was prosecuted as an adult and declined to speak at the sentencing hearing.

According to NBC, prosecutors described Gray as fixated on prior mass killers and said jail calls showed him taking pride in the attention. The judge said the attack was planned over time and motivated by a desire for notoriety. Defense testimony portrayed Gray as a lonely teenager from an unstable home, while his grandmother testified that his father owned many guns and had bought him the rifle used in the attack.

NBC also reported that Gray’s father, Colin Gray, was convicted in March on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for giving his son the weapon. The case has drawn attention because of the age of the shooter, the warning signs described in court, and questions about adult responsibility for a minor’s access to firearms.