Colt Gray, the 16-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect, pleaded guilty on Friday to all 55 counts he is charged with in connection to that shooting. Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm questioned Gray to make sure he understood his decision.
Judge Primm: “You understand the decision to plead guilty has to be voluntary on your part? No one can force you to enter a guilty plea, there’s an absolute right to a jury trial.”
Colt Gray: “Yes sir.”
Four people were killed and nine others wounded on September 4, 2024. Charges against Gray included murder, aggravated assault, and cruelty to children.
Family members of the victims spoke during the proceedings, including Alanna Schermerhorn Wallace, the sister of victim Mason Schermerhorn.
She says, “September 4 was not just the day I lost my brother; it was the day I lost the life that I knew before. It was the day my sense of safety and my ability to see the world the same, and the future I imagined with Mason were taken from me.”
Alanna directed scathing comments toward Gray saying, “You will always be remembered as a coward, a psychopath, a freak because of what you decide to do, but the victims Cristina Irimie, Richard Aspinwall, Christian Angulo, and Mason Schermerhorn will be remembered because of the people they were.”
Gray faces life in prison, the judge will determine if he will be eligible for parole. His father, Colin Gray, was convicted of buying his son the weapon that was used in the shooting. He is expected to be sentenced on July 30.
