Authorities are investigating possible links between Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray and social media accounts inspired by the gunman who shot him at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Investigators reportedly recently learned that Gray had posted messages in his personal bedroom that referenced the 2018 Parkland High School massacre.
According to new audio obtained by Fox News of Gray allegedly making the shooting threat during a 2023 visit by authorities to his home, as well as a recently unsealed police report, Gray is suspected of making past shooting threats on the messaging app Discord.
The Jackson County report said the FBI received multiple tips from users with internet addresses in Palmdale, California, Los Angeles and Cockburn, Western Australia, including “comments about shooting up schools” on Discord.
Georgia high school shooting suspect's father tells investigators son had 'issues' at previous school
The suspected shooter has been identified as 14-year-old student Colt Gray. (Barrow County Sheriff's Office)
The officer noted in his report that emails associated with the Discord account may have belonged to Gray, the teenager accused of killing four people and wounding nine others at the school on Wednesday, according to an FBI “open source inquiry.”
Georgia school shooting: New audio of suspect's father's encounter with police over online threats in 2023
Colt Gray leaves the Barrow County Courthouse in Winder, Georgia, on September 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryn Anderson/Pool)
Law enforcement officials investigating the online threats found the user profile name written in Russian that translated to “Lanza,” a reference to Adam Lanza, the gunman who shot and killed 20 first-graders and six teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
Residents leave flowers near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, on December 15, 2012, to honor students and staff who were shot and killed the previous day. (Robert Nickelsburg/Getty Images)
Audio interviews conducted in May 2023 with the Georgia suspect and his father, Collin Gray, paint a detailed picture of the investigation at the time.
The father and son told police they did not speak Russian, and the boy, who was 13 at the time, denied being the author of the threats. The boy also said he deleted his Discord account after it was hacked and that he never commented on the school shooting.
The boy appeared “calm and unassuming” while police spoke with him, the officer wrote in his report.
Apalachee High School shooting suspect makes first court appearance
“I'm a little surprised by what's happened but I can tell you this: I take this very seriously and I honestly believe he does too,” Gray's father told police at the time, according to audio obtained from the investigation.
Police immediately determined no further action was necessary.
“Due to inconsistencies in the information the FBI received, the allegation that Colt or Collin were the users behind the Discord accounts making the threats cannot be substantiated,” agents wrote.
Authorities also found documents in the boy's bedroom that they believe he had written, including a reference to the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. According to a CNN report:.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida (Matthias J. Ochner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/File)
The suspect's motive is unclear, but Collin Gray said his son struggled with mental health issues at school and at home.
“He's having a very hard time. It's very hard for him to go to school without being bullied,” Gray's father told authorities investigating the online threats, according to the audio.
The boy's parents were divorced and his father had custody of him.
“My son struggled with the separation at first,” the boy's father told police. “I was taking him to school.”
The childhood home of the Apalachee High School shooting suspect features photos documenting Colt Gray's height by year. (Source: Fox News Digital)
According to a new report from Fox Digital, Colt's childhood was unstable, with the teenager moving between at least three rental homes in a short period of time.
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Police said Collin Gray knowingly allowed his son to possess a weapon.
“My son knows the seriousness of weapons, what they do, how to use them and how not to use them,” his father told police in the recording.
Colt Gray, 14, has been charged with four counts of felony murder, with more charges expected.
Collin Gray, 54, was also arrested and charged with four counts of manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of child abuse.
Public defenders representing both Collin and Colt Gray did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
