Winder, Georgia – A 14-year-old boy Georgia High School A student of his short life reveals his turbulent home life.
Colt Gray, 14, and his father, Collin Gray, 54, are accused of killing two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Barrow County and wounding nine others, seven of them by gunfire.
The teenager had an unstable childhood, moving to at least three rental homes in a short space of time.
In a recently unsealed police interview transcript, the boy's father said:[Colt’s] Colin Gray, mitigating, said the boy had just wanted a “simple life” and had been through a lot.
Georgia shooter's father claims son was bullied at school, called 'gay' by classmates, 'it was very difficult'
Homes in Jefferson, Georgia:
The Gray family lived in two rental properties in Jefferson, Georgia, a small town of about 15,000 people.
The family lives in one rental property, and the current tenant told police the family was evicted in May 2022, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Collin and Marcie Gray's divorce later separated the family of five, with Colt living with his father and his two younger brothers initially living with their mother.
The Jefferson, Georgia, neighborhood where Apalachee school shooter Colt Gray and his father, Collin Gray, once lived, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)
After their divorce, Collin and Colt Gray rented another single-family home in a subdivision in town.
Neighbors told Fox News Digital that they only lived there for “a few months” and then left.
The former home of Apalachee school shooting suspect Colt Gray and his father, Collin Gray, in Jefferson, Georgia, on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. The two rented the home. (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)
The Jefferson rental home was where police interviewed Colt and Collin in May 2023 after they allegedly made violent threats to shoot up a middle school.
In a recording of the interview reviewed by Fox News Digital, Collin Gray can be heard telling investigators that his son had been struggling with his parents' divorce.
The father said his son “had problems” Former Junior High SchoolHe attended West Jackson Middle School, but said he was “much better” after transferring to Jefferson Middle School, about 70 miles north of Jefferson, Georgia.
Who is the suspect in the Georgia school shooting? What we know
In a transcript of an interview conducted by investigator Dan Miller in 2023, the boy was described as someone who had been bullied and “taunted” by classmates.
“[Colt] “He just wants us to have a simple life. He should be excited about starting eighth grade. It's been so hard for him to go to school and not get bullied. Another thing since then, he's been talking to a couple of friends,” Gray said.
“I was trying to get him on the golf team…'Look, Colt's gay. He's dating that guy.' I was making fun of him every single day.”
The exterior of the home of Apalachee school shooting suspect Colt Gray and his father, Collin Gray, on Harrison Mill Road in Winder, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)
Hometown: Winder, Georgia
By November 2023, Collin and Colt had moved into a new rental property in Winder, Georgia, the same address where the teen lived before his arrest following Wednesday's school shooting.
The home is where Colt's mother went to prison in November 2023 for vandalizing her ex-husband's truck and assaulting him.
According to court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital, Marcy Ann Gray came to a rental property in Winder, Georgia, and scrawled two words on a truck belonging to the construction company where her ex-husband worked.
Repairing the damage cost about $3,000, according to court documents.
Marcy Ann Gray is seen in a 2023 arrest warrant photo taken by the Ben Hill County Sheriff's Office. (Ben Hill County Sheriff's Office)
A series of charges were subsequently laid after authorities searched the mother's car and found illegal drugs hidden inside.
According to the arrest warrant, Gray was holding a glass Bottle of methamphetaminea “bag” containing fentanyl, another “bag” containing multiple muscle relaxants, and a glass pipe “used for taking narcotics.”
Georgia school shooting: New audio of suspect's father's encounter with police over online threats in 2023
The warrant states she had installed a Nissan Kicks license plate to conceal the identity of her Nissan Rogue vehicle.
In December 2023, Marcy Gray was charged with using license plates to conceal her identity, second-degree criminal damage to property and criminal trespass/domestic violence and pleaded guilty.
Marcy Gray is Georgia's first-time offender law; The system allows eligible defendants to plead guilty without being sentenced. Under the state's first-time offender law, Gray served the first 46 days of his sentence in prison, rather than the full five years.
She was placed on probation for the remainder of her sentence.
While on probation, Gray was prohibited from having any contact with her husband, Collin Gray, except to communicate through a third party about matters concerning the couple's mutual children, according to the documents.
Timeline of the shootings
of The shooting was first reported at 9:30 a.m.Wednesday. The sheriff's office received a call about an active shooter at 10:20 a.m.
GBI Director Chris Hosey said police arrived on the scene “within minutes.”
“Police responded very swiftly to this incident,” Hosey previously said.
Officers quickly found Colt Gray and the teenage suspect was taken into custody.
The 14-year-old boy is being tried as an adult and charged with four counts of murder. He is accused of using a semi-automatic AR-style rifle to kill two classmates and two teachers.
Collin Gray (54), the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray (14), made his first court appearance in Barrow County Court in Winder, Georgia on Friday, September 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryn Anderson)
His father, Colin Gray, facing related charges It's the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children's actions in school shootings.
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“You don't have to be physically injured to be a victim,” District Attorney Brad Smith told reporters on Friday. “Everybody in this community is a victim. Every child in that school is a victim.”
Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baer contributed to this report.
