Bodycam shows Colt, Colin Gray in 2023 threat investigation
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JEFFERSON, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - On Monday, Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum released body camera video of a 2023 interview of the Apalachee High School shooting suspect and his father as part of an investigation surrounding allegations that the teenage suspect threatened to shoot up a school.
“I don’t know. Maybe they misheard somebody else. No, I swear,” said Colt Gray, the 14-year-old shooting suspect when repeatedly asked if he made comments suggesting he planned on shooting up a school on the social media platform Discord.
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Interviewed with his father Colin Gray, Colt denied making any school shooting threats multiple times.
Colt said he had deleted his Discord — where investigators said the threats originated.
The threats were pinged to an IP address at a home along Rice Creek Court in Jefferson.
According to the incident report acquired by Atlanta News First, investigators went to that house, where Colt and Colin formerly lived.
The family was evicted in July 2022, according to eviction records acquired by Atlanta News First.
Investigators then tracked Colin to a new address in Jefferson along River Mist Circle.
It was at this address that they conducted an interview with both Colin and Colt.
“I don’t know anything about him saying (expletive) like that. And I’m going to be mad as hell if he did. And then all the guns will go away. And they won’t be accessible to him,” said Colin to Dan Miller, an investigator with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE:
Miller, along with Deputy Justin Elliott, interviewed Colt and Colin on May 21, 2023.
A follow-up interview was conducted via phone on May 23, 2023.
The investigators did not find probable cause to charge Colt.
Initially, according to the FBI, the sheriff’s office also alerted local schools to continue to monitor Colt.
On Monday, Mangum said they cannot find a record that their staff alerted schools.
“My regret is, the school, if there was a breakdown, if the school was not notified, then of course I have a regret about that,” said Mangum. “It will be fixed on our part, on the sheriff’s part.
By the numbers
The Gun Violence Archive said that in Georgia schools since 2022, there have been:
- 97 gun incidents
- Five gun fatalities
- 17 gun injuries
- 72 arrests for gun incidents
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