SCHOOL SHOOTER 14, MURDERS 4, LAUGHS-OUT-LOUD AT SURVIVOR

Summary

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

Episode: SCHOOL SHOOTER 14, MURDERS 4, LAUGHS-OUT-LOUD AT SURVIVOR

Date: August 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

This harrowing episode of Crime Stories centers on the Apalachee High School shooting in Winder, Georgia. Host Nancy Grace investigates the unfolding of the tragedy, where 14-year-old Colt Gray murdered four (two classmates, two teachers) and wounded nine others before surrendering to law enforcement. The discussion exposes failures in threat detection, the shooter's troubled family background, lapses in school protocols, and the crushing aftershock endured by survivors and the community. Notably, Colt Gray mocked survivors during court proceedings, underlining the profound trauma left behind.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Shooting & Immediate Response

• Incident Recap

  • Time & Place: Apalachee High School, Winder, GA. (~10:20 am)
    [03:44–04:35]
  • Perpetrator: Colt Gray, age 14 at the time, new to the area
  • Casualties: 4 dead (two students: Mason Schermerhorn & Christian Angelo, and two teachers: Richard Aspinwall & Christina Irmarie), 9 injured
  • Survivor’s Trauma: Victim Natalie Griffith now permanently impaired
  • Colt Gray's Behavior: Laughed during survivor statements in court, shocking and angering many.

• Critical Quotes:

  • Nancy Grace:
    “A boy, 14, who guns down two classmates and two teachers, shoots them all dead. Laughs, giggles in court as a survivor reads a victim impact statement.” [02:13]
  • News Reporter:
    “14 year old Colt Gray steps out of his algebra classroom. Moments later, chaos unfolds as gunshots ring out.” [03:44]

2. Parent and Community Perspective

• Sonya Turner (Mother of Two Students at the School):

  • First-Person Account:
    • Received terrified texts from daughters during lockdown (“mom, we’re on lockdown. I hear gunshots.” [05:37]).
    • Recounted desperate real-time attempts to comfort and advise her daughters, relying on prayer and group texts for fortitude.
    • Shock that shooter had been at the school only days and had little-known history locally.
  • Quote:
    “I wasn’t sure if I was going to see my kids at the end of the day. I kept thinking, this can’t be our story. This can’t be our town.” [10:03]

• Chris Hubbard (Atlanta Parent):

  • Reflected the widespread dread among parents, even beyond Winder.
  • Called the recurring school shootings “heart-wrenching... It’s just too much the norm in this country and it’s hard to deal with.” [11:52]

3. School Protocols, Response, and Breakdown

• Response Systems:

  • New panic/alert badges for teachers, rolled out two days before shooting, credited for rapid law enforcement response.
    (Chase McGee: “It essentially works like, you press it and it lets law enforcement know where in the building there’s this incident going on.” [13:59])

• School Resource Officer/Campus Heroics:

  • Immediate SRO engagement forced shooter to surrender (rather than escalation to an “officer involved shooting”).
  • Student quick-thinking (blocking classroom entry) possibly saved entire classroom. [14:33]

• Protocol Failures & Red Flags Missed:

  • Key Failure: School notified of a threat by shooter’s mother ~30 minutes prior, yet confusion with student names caused a fatal delay. [19:47, 27:30]
  • Colt’s Recent Arrival: Only in school two days—local bullying narrative discredited. [20:40–21:19]

4. The Shooter’s Troubled Background

• Warning Signs Overlooked:

  • Past mental illness and behavioral issues flagged by teachers in previous districts.
    Sonya Turner: "I was contacted by... they begged for their parents to get him help... He struggled with mental illness from as early as you can fathom..." [21:19]
  • Multiple reports and direct threats; father still gifted him an AR-style rifle.

• Family Situation:

  • Father now charged (four counts manslaughter, two of second-degree murder) for knowingly providing unstable son with weapon.
  • Mother (Marcy Gray) had extensive criminal history, recent drug and violence charges, and admitted locking children out of house when angry.
  • Quote (Sydney Sumner):
    "Colin Gray talks to the sheriff's deputies about trying to get Colt outside, trying to get him a hobby. Was this the best hobby for Colt to be in? Obviously not." [39:11]

5. Systemic Issues & Calls for Change

• Failure of Information Sharing:

  • Apalachee High School did not have Colt Gray’s troubled file due to lack of transfer protocols.
    Nancy Grace: "...the new school, Apalachee High... did not have access to any of Cold Gray’s history. They let a ticking time bomb walk into their school unbeknownst to them." [45:14]

• Mental Health / Gun Access:

  • Experts and guests called for more stringent background checks, file-sharing between schools, and consideration of mental health in firearm access decisions.
  • Brian Claypool:
    “In nearly every school shooting and nearly every mass shooting, Nancy, there are red flags. There are massive red flags here. And until local schools... what are we doing to solve these? This is a local issue, too. Lot could have been done here.” [32:18–33:06]

• Community Healing / Aftermath:

  • Survivors' and families’ ongoing trauma and struggle to process the tragedy.
  • Quote (Victim Impact Statement):
    “I got shot twice... I lost ability to use my left hand. But on some days, it doesn’t feel like that’s the biggest thing I lost. After the shooting, I lost my independence...” [50:11]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Sonya Turner:
  “Somehow become a mama to the mamas... I created a group where 8,000 moms have come together and stayed together since 2020... It’s a place that we can all safely come and try to share what is working, what is not working, what our students are going through, how we’re helping.” [08:41]

• Nancy Grace:
  “Every warning sign gets missed when this happens.” [34:05]

• Sydney Sumner:
  “It’s a lot more than accessory to the crime that the father... is facing four counts of manslaughter and two counts of second-degree murder... because he gave his son an AR-15 style rifle that was then used in the massacre at Apalachee High.” [39:11]

• Chris Grolnick (Active Shooter Expert):
  “For the last 10 years, we cannot respond our way out of this... we have to shift as a whole nation, just like we did for fires. We haven’t let a child die in a school fire in 70 years. We can do this, we just... we don’t want to.” [25:31]

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Timestamps for Critical Segments

| Time | Topic/Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:13 | Announcement of school shooting; shooter’s age, victims, court behavior | | 05:02–12:49 | Mother Sonya Turner’s account; chilling texts during shooting, community support, first-person trauma | | 13:11–15:22 | Law enforcement/teacher alert systems and SRO response | | 19:47–21:19| Mother's warning call; confusion and tragic delays; shooter's new status at school | | 21:46 | Victims identified and remembered | | 25:31–26:07 | Expert calls for preventative focus, not just response | | 29:10–31:22 | Counselor meeting with shooter on day of attack; red flags | | 39:11 | Father’s criminal charges for providing weapon | | 43:50–52:15 | Court sentencing, victim impact, shooter’s demeanor | | 50:11 | Victim Natalie Griffith’s statement of lasting loss |

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Conclusion / Final Takeaways

• The tragedy at Apalachee High exemplifies a cascade of missed red flags—repeated warnings, mental health breakdowns, and system failures in sharing crucial student records.
• Parents, experts, and Nancy Grace stress that reactive safety measures are not enough; preventing these tragedies requires systemic overhaul: better information sharing, mental health focus, and rational policy on youth firearm access.
• The community is forever changed, but support groups and survivor voices can drive national conversation and hopefully, lasting preventative change.

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Memorable Moment:
At sentencing, Colt Gray laughs as the survivor recounts permanent physical and mental damage—a chilling, unforgettable demonstration of the callousness and cost of missed intervention.

Victim’s Statement (Read in Court):

“...on some days, it doesn’t feel like that’s the biggest thing I lost. After the shooting, I lost my independence. I couldn’t put on my own clothes or do my own hair... I hate everything about you. I hate the scars you left on my body...” (Victim Impact, [50:11])

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For Listeners

This episode is deeply emotional and urgent. Nancy Grace and her guests offer not just a recounting of events, but a passionate plea for accountability—and a warning that unless systemic change occurs, such tragedies will repeat. The episode spotlights the voices of survivors, mothers, and bereaved families whose stories demand to be heard.

Transcript

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[Nancy Grace]

stories with a teen boy turned school

[Crime Stories Narrator]

shooter and his sick outburst in court. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. That's right, a boy, 14, who guns down two classmates and two teachers shoots them all dead. Laughs giggles in court as a survivor reads a victim impact statement. Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. A teen guns down four people dead in a rampage in his high school breaks out laughing when the judge told a survivor to slow down. While she was speaking, she was reading her victim impact statement in court. That sent Colt Gray, now 16, into fits of laughter in the courtroom. Natalie Griffith, the surviving victim, was trying to recount how the attack left her unable to use her left hand. She was one of the nine people injured in a bloodbath at Apalachee High. That was the number injured. Four were murdered, two classmates and two teachers. This is what we know Wednesday morning,

[News Reporter / Narrator]

Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. 14 year old colt Gray steps out of his algebra classroom. Moments later, chaos unfolds as gunshots ring out.

[Nancy Grace]

Every parent in America's head is spinning. How did he get in school? We with a gun. Why was he let out of class to wander the halls unchaperoned? And did the school know ahead of time that he was an imminent threat to the other students? This, as we learn, he had been under watch by the FBI and nothing was done by local authorities. And how does his father end up in jail? Maybe it's because he gave his troubled son an AR for Christmas assault rifle. With me, an all star panel to make sense of what we are learning now. But straight out to special guests joining us as part of, as I said, an all star panel. I want to first speak to Sonya Turner joining us from Winder, Georgia, mother of two girls at the school. Ms. Turner, thank you for being with us.

[Sonya Turner]

Thank you for having me.

[Nancy Grace]

I know this is going to run a chill down your spine, but listen, the door flew open and all I saw when I turned around for a few seconds was a figure with like a pretty large gun aiming at all the students. Ms. Turner, when you think about your girls in that school, the fact that they are alive today is a miracle. And when that guy says, yeah, we got to be quick, I guess so because there's an active shooter in the school, what happened?

[Sonya Turner]

So I had just dropped my oldest daughter, she's 15, about to be 16, off. She's a sophomore about 45 minutes, maybe less before this happened. She was late going in that day. My other daughter was already there. And then I was sitting down to rest because I was still supposed to be on bed rest from a major abdominal surgery the week before. And I got a text that said, mom, we're on lockdown. I hear gunshots. And I think some of your producers had seen that text at the Washington Post, had put together in a video. It's word by word. They left the typos even. So I started texting with her trying to calm her, trying to reassure her. I got it. I got the kids into a group text. So I had Izzy and Abby both in that text message together. In between that, I'm calling my husband, telling him to go. Go to the kids. He was on. On a job site not too far away. The first text for my daughter came in at 1023, which is actually when I think they're reporting that everything started. She was on that end of the hall. She wasn't on that exact hall, but she was on that end of the building. So I'm texting with her. I'm texting. My immediate other text went to my pastor. My pastor ended up getting on the phone with us and praying while I'm texting my daughters. I'm. They're. They're telling me they're scared. They hear gunshots. I'm having them assess their, you know, location. Can you get anywhere safer? What can you do? I like, we're coming. They're telling me they hear sirens. I'm just reassuring them that that's help on the way. In the meantime of texting my daughters and keeping that line of communication open. I was born and raised here in Winder. This is my home. I've lived here 45 years. Everyone I know had someone at that school that day, the sea of law enforcement, you could just hear it. It was bone chilling. And all I could do, I texted the Lord's Prayer. It's not all I could do. It was the thing to do. I think the thing that stands out to me the most right now that I haven't really wrapped my head around is, well, there's a lot of things I haven't wrapped my head around. But in the prayer with my pastor, which he did not even remember, I'm sure you've thought most of these don't end with the shooter alive. In this case, my pastor prayed with me for him to stop in his tracks, whatever he was doing and lay that gun down. And I'm telling you, the timing is spot on. You'll never convince me that wasn't my God that day that saved those lives and the quick response from our law enforcement, who have trained so hard for this moment that they hope they'd never have to use.

[Nancy Grace]

Sonia, when you said you are texting the Lord's Prayer, what else could you do? There was nothing more you could do.

[Sonya Turner]

It was the first thing I needed to do. It wasn't the last. It was the first. And I have some somehow become a mama to the mamas. It's a long story. It started back during COVID where I'd created a group where 8,000 moms have come together and stayed together since 2020. And that has I was inspired to do that group for moms of parents at Appalachia, and I've started that online. And I'm watching the stories feed in and I'm hearing the pain in their voices and, and what they need. And it's a place that we can all safely come and try to share what is working, what is not working, what our students are going through, how we're helping. I have friends who were bus drivers who were trapped, sitting there waiting to evacuate that school and get those babies home while their kids were there and they couldn't do anything. I have friends that were teachers in the school immediately next door. One of those, her daughter was waiting on this child to get back to go to the bathroom and one of her classmates just happened to get up to go let him in and looked out and saw that he had a gun and did not open that door. She saved that entire classroom that day.

[Nancy Grace]

Sonia, when you get the text, when you get a text, mommy, I'm so scared. What went through your mind?

[Sonya Turner]

I wasn't sure if I was going to see my kids at the end of the day. I kept thinking, this can't be our story. This can't be our town. It doesn't happen here, which I think everybody thinks. I just knew that. I kept telling them that Mommy was coming, Daddy was coming, we were coming. Obviously, we knew we couldn't get in that school, but they needed the reassurance that it didn't matter. We were coming and everybody was coming. There were parents that happened to be passing the school. I live a mile and a quarter from the school to my subdivision entrance. There were parents that were just in the area that have kids in those schools that saw the sea of law enforcement and paramedics and firefighters. And they were freaking out because they didn't know what was going on. Or they had kids in all three schools of the cluster and didn't know which school to go to first.

[Nancy Grace]

Joining us in addition to Sonya Turner, the mom of two girls at the school, is another Atlanta parent with children in the Atlanta schools. And I'm wondering straight out to Chris Hubbard is joining us, how does what Sonya Turner is saying, how does that affect all the other parents in the area? And frankly, across the country, when you heard about the school shooting right here under your nose, what goes through your mind? I mean, how can you keep sending your children to school. When this happens over and over and over, there were warnings and there were calls, there were reports. But yet 13 shot Nancy.

[Chris Hubbard]

It's heart wrenching. I was coming out of a meeting and I saw the news alerts on my phone and then I was like, another school shooting. This is unbelievable. And then I saw it was in Georgia and my heart dropped even further. And Sonya, I can't imagine what you're going through and what those families are going through. Too close to home in Winder, Georgia, too close to home here in Atlanta. And it's just too much the norm in this country and it's hard to deal with.

[Nancy Grace]

I mean, when I'm looking at these texts, I text my children all during the day. Even though they have a no phone policy, I think, well, somehow during the day they might check their phone and not get caught. But Sonya, when you have your child saying, mommy, I'm scared, and all you can say back is stay down, stay hidden. I will come and get you. And then when you get there, you can't get close to the school.

[Sonya Turner]

Yep, it's paralyzing again.

[Nancy Grace]

Joining us in addition to Sonya Turner and Chris Hubbard right now, Chase McGee is joining us, senior newsroom producer, GPB Chase, thank you for being with us. What do we know about exactly what happened that morning? But before you start, take a listen to this.

[Chris Hosey]

At approximately 10:20am this morning, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office received alerts about reports of an active shooter and radio traffic from school resource officers concerning the same concern or having the same concern.

[Amazon Health AI / Troy Millings / Tony Ayo]

All of our teachers are armed with a form of an ID called Syntjics. And Syntgix alarms us and alerts the law enforcement office after buttons are pressed on an id. And it alerts us that there is an active situation at the school for whatever reason. And that was pressed. And we've had that about a week now.

[Nancy Grace]

Chase McGhee, let me understand what I'm hearing. So all the teachers are equipped with some type of device on their person or at their desk, and if they press it, that sends out the alarm.

[Chase McGee]

Hey, yeah, that's right. Nancy, thanks for having me. To my understanding, a lot of schools in northeast Georgia started rolling out this program. I believe these schools in Winder had these cards for about two days on their person. So that's two days training ahead of the shooting. And it essentially works like a you press it and it lets law enforcement know where in the buildings that there's this incident going on. And in early press conferences, they Credit that and school resource officers on campus with a really quick response time to stop the shooting.

[Nancy Grace]

School resource officers on campus and one student, you heard Sonya Turner, her children at that school state that one of the children had gone out to the bathroom and was coming back in as I understand it, and seized the shooter in the hall. That child that close to death and would not let him in the door. Listen to Chris Hosey GBI 2 School

[Chris Hosey]

resource officers assigned here to the school who immediately encountered the subject within just minutes of this report going out.

[Amazon Health AI / Troy Millings / Tony Ayo]

Obviously the shooter was armed and our school resource officer engaged him and the shooter quickly realized that if he did not give up

[Nancy Grace]

that it would end

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with an ois an officer involved shooting.

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[Nancy Grace]

Nancy Grace

[Crime Stories Narrator]

Colt Gray, 16, breaks out laughing as his shooting victim Natalie Griffith describes how her life has been changed forever by his gunning rampage. This is what happened in the halls of apalachee high.

[News Reporter / Narrator]

A 14 year old apalachee High School student steps out of his algebra class. Return moments later, classmates refuse to open the door after seeing the student is now armed with an assault style rifle.

[Nancy Grace]

What do we know about what happened that morning? Yet another school shooting and now the father of the shooter, Colt Gray has also been arrested, the grandfather calling him pure evil. The home of Colt Gray sounds chaotic, but can we just focus on the 13 people shot by Colt Gray? Straight back out to Chase McGee senior newsroom producer GPB Chase again that morning. How did it unfold?

[Chase McGee]

Yeah, so what we know from before the shooting over this past weekend we've heard reporting that Marcy Gray, the mother of Colt Gray, had received an alarming text from her son and then gone on to contact school administrators. We know that call lasted about 10 minutes. According to call records and what was said is yet unclear. But we do know that a school administrator responded to the classroom where Colt Gray was supposed to be. There was some confusion with another student who has a very similar name, apparently. And the school administrator went to leave the classroom after not finding either student in the classroom. And that was just moments before the shooting started.

[Nancy Grace]

To Sonya Turner joining us, the mom of two little girls at the school. Sonya, did your children know, either of them know Colt Gray?

[Sonya Turner]

No, he's not, he's not from here. He had only, he had been enrolled, to my knowledge, two weeks. However, he had only been in the school for maybe a total of two days. I have a friend that saw him the day before in the attendance office when they were, you know, interview like, you know, processing him as a new student. And then that was literally his second day. Maybe in our school. He's not one of our students.

[Nancy Grace]

So what we have heard about him being bullied and called names did not happen at this school.

[Sonya Turner]

Absolutely not. I was contacted by again, I've been here 45 years. I know people that taught this individual and I refuse to say his name as a very young child. And they begged for their parents to get him help. They begged for the system to get him help. He struggled with mental illness from as early as you can fathom of going into a school system.

[Chris Hosey]

Listen, there are four individuals who are deceased from this incident. Nine that have been taken to local hospitals with various injuries. Those that lost their life in this tragic event. Mason Schermerhorn, age 14, who is a student here at the school. Christian angelo, who was 14, also a student, student here at the school. Richard Aspinwall, not sure of his age, but he was a teacher here at the school. And Christina Irmarie, I'm sorry for my pronunciation, who was also a teacher here at the school.

[Nancy Grace]

The victims, four dead and yet another school shooting. To Chris Hubbard, Atlanta father with children in school right now. How often do one of your children say, you know, when you're asking them what happened today, who did you have lunch with and all that? Have you heard them say, yeah, that kid is, there's, there's something off about that kid. He fill in the blank or she fill in the blank. I remember one child all the way back to, I believe it was second or third grade, was drawing pictures of hanging people and shooting people, and alarm bells were going off in my head. It happens all the time. But Chris, how often do we think, oh, okay, that troubled child is going to be a school cheater? We got to kick him out. How often do parents actually think it's going to go this far?

[Chris Hubbard]

Well, Nancy, unfortunately, with the way things are going, you know, that's something that comes to mind now. But I agree with you. That's not something you ever considered to happen at your school. It's happening way too often. And we're missing the signs. We're missing the mental health, the troubled signs that are completely obvious, that are making direct threats, you know, really going out of their way to cry for help in some other way. And we're not doing anything about it. We're not doing enough about it.

[Nancy Grace]

Yeah, I hear you, Chris, and I'm weighing that out. I'm listening to what Sonya Turner has just told us that a teacher of Col Gray, all the way back years ago, was saying, this kid is troubled, but I got to balance his troubles, his inner demons, with the dead students and the dead teachers. So how was he allowed out of class? How did that happen? Listen.

[Sonya Turner]

Or why the school allowed this boy

[Nancy Grace]

to come, come and go from the class all the time.

[Sonya Turner]

He would go and sign up for the. The restroom, cash, leave the class and

[Nancy Grace]

come back sometimes and sometimes never come back.

[Sonya Turner]

He has been wandering this school.

[Nancy Grace]

So why was he allowed out? You know, my son has gotten in trouble at school one time, it was in the fourth grade. I said, son, what did you do? Just assuming, you know, it, something had gone horribly wrong. He went, mom, I went to the library and I thought, john, David, what's wrong with going to the library? I didn't ask first. Big trouble, big trouble. Because he went to the library at the school. So how is this kid wandering around with a gun to chase? Grolnick joining us out of Dallas, Texas, active shooter expert, expert managing principle for active Shooter Prevention Project. Chris, wouldn't that be written in bedrock that students don't wander freely in the hall?

[Chris Grolnick]

And that's it. That's absolutely correct. And the protocols only work if we use them. And as you said at the beginning of the show, the school was notified by the mother of some type of threat. And if the administration is going to go to the room, you would think the school resource officers would too. And while I think the police did an excellent job here, I again will come back and say for the last 10 years, we cannot respond our way out of this. And they keep responding to these instead of preventing them. And we have to shift as a whole nation, just like we did for fires. We haven't let a child die in a school fire in 70 years. We can do this we just want. We don't want to.

[Nancy Grace]

Another issue that Chris Grolnick has just brought up. Chase McGee is the specter that has rear its ugly head that the mother of this child who has. I mean, this family. The dad gives him an AR when he's got all these troubled thoughts and is expressing them. And the mother has a rap sheet as long as I75, for Pete's sake. And neighbors say she locks the children out of the house when she's angry. Okay, that said Chase McGee, what can you tell me? Chase joining us from GPB, what can you tell me about the mom's claim she texted to school, contacting them just before the shooting happened, before her son opens fire, shooting 13 people, students and teachers. What does she text them?

[Chase McGee]

Yeah, we don't know quite yet. The contents of the conversation and any requests for car records have been forwarded to the Piedmont Circuit here in Northeast Georgia, where the trial is going to be held. But we do have photo proof from a call record that a 10 minute call did go out from the mother to the school system.

[Nancy Grace]

Oh, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on. Chase, did you just say a 10 minute call? If they had acted immediately, could anyone's life have been saved? Chase?

[Chase McGee]

I can't speak to that, but we do know that the call took place about 30 minutes before the shooting started. And judging by the reports that administrator made it to the classroom, it sounds like some response took place. Now, I can't speak to the idea of a lockdown or anything other than that.

[News Reporter / Narrator]

As shots ring out in the halls of Georgia's Apalachee High School, students and teachers take cover as a teen shooter opens fire.

[Narrator / Reporter]

A school administrator goes looking for Colt Gray after receiving a panicked call from mom Marci Gray. Gray says someone needs to find and check on her son immediately. It's an extreme emergency. Minutes before that call, a school counselor informed Gray that Colt mentioned school shootings in their meeting that morning. Marcy Gray also received a text from her son reading, I'm sorry, Mom.

[Nancy Grace]

We are understanding that the discussion of school shootings happened that morning in a meeting. Sonia Turner, do you know anything about the meeting that morning where school shootings were discussed?

[Sonya Turner]

I don't know specifics of what was discussed, but I do know they in took him the day before. I think it was they in took him.

[Nancy Grace]

What does that mean?

[Sonya Turner]

Just as because he was a new student, I think they met with him to sit down to determine what his needs were. Our counseling staff is excellent with trying to make sure all of our children's needs are met.

[Nancy Grace]

Joining us now, crimeonline.com investigative reporter Sydney Sumner. Sydney, let me understand something Sydney did. Was there a meeting that morning with a school counselor? And in that meeting, the morning of the shooting, 13 shot, four dead. Colt Gray mentioned a school shooting.

[Sydney Sumner]

That's what I'm understanding, Nancy yes, there was some sort of meeting with the school counselor that morning where Colt mentioned school shootings. And it's unclear exactly when Marcy Gray was informed of this. It seems like the school counselor informed Marcy Gray of this during that 10 minute call at 9:50am Some reports say she learned this before. We're not exactly sure what led to Marcy, Marcy Gray's call to the school that morning.

[Nancy Grace]

Hold on, Sid. Sid, the school shooter, Colt Gray contacted his mother and said something that was so disturbing, she called the school and had a 10 minute conversation with them before they went out with the warning. So a lot of time lost, you know. Brian Claypool is joining us. Renowned criminal defense attorney and specifically lived through the Mandalay mass shooting and lived to tell the tale. BRIAN claypool, I mean, what more will it take, for Pete's sake? Did you hear Hubbard a few moments ago? Every time you send your child to school, you're wondering what's going to happen today. When your child at the supper table says, God, that kid's really off, there's something wrong. You wonder, is that going to be a school shooter? I mean, that morning, Claypool, this shooter is talking about school shootings. You heard Sonia Turner, who is living through this. Her children were in the school. And it goes way back to when he was in elementary school. I mean, what more has to be done?

[Brian Claypool]

CLAYPOOL first of all, I want to share with Sonya that this is horrific. But in time, being a survivor of a mass shooting myself, she's going to realize and her daughter's going to realize that there's a bigger cause for the, for her daughter surviving and her family going through this. And part of that cause is going to be what I've tried to do the last five or six years is to make change throughout our country, to try to safeguard not only schools but all public places that we go to. And how do we do that? You know, Nancy, shortly after the Vegas shooting, when I thought I was going to die and I saw other people on the ground shot and dealt with, you know, remorse for not helping them, and similar to what Sonia went through, too, I, I sent a text to my daughters. I'm a single parent. I've Got two daughters now, but my, my teen daughter at the time, it was too. So I texted her mom and I just said, you know, if I get killed, you know, you know, send my love to, to Alana, my daughter. But the thing is that nobody should have to go through that. And, and the way that we make change is not through. What I was trying to get at before I got emotional, was I, I thought that this, there, a ban on, you know, assault weapons would help the first year or two. And I've changed my thought because of what we're seeing in this shooting, too, that in nearly every school shooting and nearly every mass shooting, Nancy, there are red flags. There are massive red flags here. And until local schools, it's not just a federal issue. Everybody's quick to blame the federal government. What are we doing to solve these? This is a local issue, too. Lot could have been done here.

[Nancy Grace]

Well, you know what, Claypool, you're right. The FBI had been watching Colt Gray. They contacted, as you are prescribing local authorities who did an interview, and nothing was done. Dr. Gillian Peterson. Joining me, forensic psychologist and the executive director of the Violence Prevention Project, author of the Violence how to Stop a Mass shooting epidemic. Okay. Dr. Gillian Peterson, lay it on me.

[HeroBread Advertiser]

Yeah, I mean, it's so heartbreaking and difficult to hear this story because we've studied these school shootings and it's the same thing over and over again. It's a troubled young man who's a

[Sonya Turner]

student of the school.

[HeroBread Advertiser]

He's making threats, he's posting things online, he's telling people things are going to happen. The people are around him are concerned, and still every warning sign gets missed when this happens.

[Nancy Grace]

So Dr. Gillian Peterson. They had a meeting with the counselor that morning, and he's talking about school shootings. Sonia Turner says she knows an instructor that dealt with Colt Gray years ago. Same thing. Then he's like Vesuvius waiting to erupt, yet nothing happened. The parents aren't going to do anything. What they did is give him an ar. An ar, an assault rifle. So that's not helpful. The only thing I believe that saved lives at all, and I think Sonya Turner's backing me up on this, is a school administrator and one of the students. Listen.

[Narrator / Reporter]

A school administrator goes looking for Colt Gray after receiving a panicked call from mom, Marcy Gray. Gray says someone needs to find and check on her son immediately. It's an extreme emergency. Minutes before that call, a school counselor informed Gray that Colt mentioned school shootings in their meeting that morning. Marcy Gray also Received a text from her son reading, I'm sorry, Mom.

[News Reporter / Narrator]

The assault rifle gifted to Gray at Christmas last year is reportedly the same gun used in the attack on Apalachee High School. Many are questioning how the 14 year old managed to get the large gun into the school. Apalachee does not have metal detectors, but the school does not provide lockers to every student. While an AR15 will break down into two pieces, they are still too large to conceal an attempt. Typical school backpack.

[Nancy Grace]

So how did he get the gun into the school? How did he transport it? How did he get out in the hall with it? Did he stash it somewhere? He was out. According to Sonya Turner, his children go to the school with a legitimate bathroom pass. So he was not wandering the halls as has been characterized to us. That's not what happened. He had a bathroom pass. So how did he get the gun? Joining us, an all star panel to make sense of what we know right now, to Mary Lynn Ryan joining us, VP at gpb, Mary Lynn, in the last hours, the father, Colt Gray's father, which is quite a departure in American jurisprudence. It has happened before, but very rarely the father has been put behind bars. Why?

[Sydney Sumner]

That is a good question, Nancy. We asked that right away because there's only been one other case in Michigan where, you know, a par held liable for that for a gun used by his student. But I talked to law enforcement at the federal level after this, and I was told that it was because the father had knowledge of his mental health and still provided him with possessing a weapon and knew that he was in that state and those were available to him. So that, that. And you're a lawyer, very good lawyer, Nancy. And I know you've done many stories on this. And that, I believe, is the reason why they're able to charge the father with accessory pretty much to this crime. So it will be a top story here in Georgia. And the gun debate rages on again as we head into this election. And it's at the top of mind today.

[Sonya Turner]

Okay, hold on, hold on.

[Nancy Grace]

I don't want to make this at all about politics at all. I want to save lives. I don't care who's going to use this as some rhetoric for an election to further their own interest. As a matter of fact, you're right. You are right, Marilyn.

[Amazon Health AI / Troy Millings / Tony Ayo]

Listen, if something like that happened or

[Nancy Grace]

you hear something like that, report it.

[Chase McGee]

Yeah.

[Nancy Grace]

Tell your dad, tell teacher like I told him, I promise I would never say something. So you haven't used Discord in a few months and you're you're, you're saying

[Chris Hubbard]

you didn't say anything like that?

[Amazon Health AI / Troy Millings / Tony Ayo]

No.

[Nancy Grace]

Only thing I have is tick tock. But I just go around there and watch the videos. Do you have weapons in the house?

[CarMax Representative]

I do.

[Nancy Grace]

Are they accessible to him? They are. I mean, there's nothing loaded, but they are down.

[HeroBread Advertiser]

Okay.

[Nancy Grace]

We actually, we do a lot of shooting. We do a lot of deer hunting. He shot his first deer this year, you know, so like, I'm pretty much in shock, to be honest with you. Well, I'm a little pissed off to be even really honest with you, if that is what was said. He's pissed off. The father is pissed off. Well, this may help you understand it a little bit more. Earlier we heard Brian Claypool talking about lots of red flags. That interview was back in May 2023 when the Jackson county deputy sheriff went out to speak to Colt Gray's father. And he's pissed. The father's pissed about what? And yes, the guns were easily accessible to. Sydney sumner, joining us, crimeonline.com investigative reporter. It's my understanding that it's a lot more than just accessory to the crime that the father, Colin gray, is facing. Four counts of manslaughter and two counts of second degree murder. Amy claims he gave his son an AR15 style rifle that was then used in the massacre at Appalachia High.

[Sydney Sumner]

Nancy, that's absolutely correct. What we know is that Colin Griff gifted Colt this assault rifle, reportedly for deer hunting. It seems like they were out hunting very frequently. Colin Gray talks to the sheriff's deputies about trying to get Colt outside, trying to get him a hobby. Was this the best hobby for Colt to be in? Obviously not. So that's what we know about that. And it's obvious these text messages that are coming out between Marcy Gray, her sisters, her mother and father, the family was very aware that Colt Gray was not doing well mentally. He had just been put into therapy a week before the shooting happened.

[Nancy Grace]

But you know what's interesting? Sidney Sumner, Sonya Turner, has pointed out that his file about all of his difficulties and all of his demons and homicidal suicidal ideation did not travel with him. Everyone is attacking Apalachee High. Apalachee High did not know about his troubled background. But as Sidney Sumner is telling us, we now know that law enforcement went to speak to the father. And I guess you heard what she was saying about the home.

[News Reporter / Narrator]

Listen, Colt Gray's home life is anything but stable. Colt's mother, Marcy Gray, has a long criminal history. After falling into drug addiction. Colin and Marcy Gray separate shortly after being evicted from a rental home. Colt stays with his father while his two younger siblings go with their mom after cops find drugs in her car. Marcy Gray is sentenced to five years in prison but serves only 46 days before release on parole. Months later, Gray is arrested for aggravated battery on her 73 year old mother and barred from contact with Colin Gray outside of matters concerning their children.

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[Nancy Grace]

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

[Crime Stories Narrator]

in the last days, a hearing goes down in a court of law where the judge hears statements from family members of four people murdered by Colt Gray at Appalachia High. It was Mason Shimmerhorn, age 14, Richard Aspinwall, the teacher, Christina Eremi, the teacher, and Christian Angelo, also 14. Two 14 year olds gunned down in the school hallways. Two teachers dead. The survivors spoke in court, giving heartbreaking testimony about how the shooting had impacted their lives. And of course it did. This is what happened.

[Nancy Grace]

Sonia Turner, who is the mom of two little girls that attend Appalachia High. Sonya, you're getting all sorts of information. What have you learned about Gray's father?

[Sonya Turner]

I got very reliable information that he was acting very peculiar that morning at work and was communicating back and forth supposedly with his son. And I wholeheartedly feel like he may have known more than something was up, that he may have known what was up.

[Sydney Sumner]

I don't know.

[Nancy Grace]

You know, it just makes me wonder, did he not want to give up his son? Did he try to talk his son out of it? Was he trying to calm his son down at the expense of the other students? To Chris Grolnick, active shooter expert, what is the fix? What can we do? The FBI had flagged it. Local law enforcement went to go speak to his family. That did no good. The new school, Appalachia High, as Sonya Turner has pointed out, did not have access to any of Cold Gray's history. They let a ticking time bomb walk into their school unbeknownst to them.

[Chris Grolnick]

And you know, Nancy and so many others. 90% of these shooters, according to the FBI, tell somebody they're going to do it before they do it. And they provide something called leakage, which is on social media that remains up at will until it's posted, flagged or other, and then may come down later. If we just follow their history, listen to the people around and when somebody says they're going to do something and we start believing them, then we can reduce these incidents. As great as this response was, we've still lost the lives of four people, nine other shot, and a whole host of a community that's going to be in shambles for God knows how long, over 25 years. The watershed moment was Columbine. Of course, Uvalde was absolutely the incorrect way to handle this.

[Nancy Grace]

You know, CHRIS Hubbard, Atlanta area father of children that he's got to send right back into school tomorrow morning. CHRIS hubbard, One of the first stints I did at the Fulton County District attorney's office was in juvenile and of course it's more of a revolving door there than it is in adult jail. But I would see the level of crime committed by juveniles and they'd walk right out the door. And I knew nothing could be done except for me trying to get treated as adults. So that in mind, Chris, what do you tell your children? Hide under your desk? I mean, what do you tell them?

[Chris Hubbard]

That's an impossible conversation, Nancy. We talk about recognizing signs. We talk about being nice to people. I know that sounds silly maybe in this context, but, you know, a lot of these kids you hear were bullied. And again, I know this didn't happen at Appalachia High because it was only his second day apparently, but had lived through that his entire life. But when something like that happens, all you can do is tell your kids to look out for themselves the best they can. I wish we had more physical barriers at the schools, lockdown doors, etc, the resource officers. I'm a huge proponent of having sat on three school boards, two current and one in the past. School safety is something that we've talked about a lot and I'm a huge proponent of the school resource officers. But again, that's a reaction thing. And again, we're we're not missing these signs. I don't believe we're ignoring these signs of this mental health. And again, I don't know what you do. And Nancy, you've lived this in your legal career where you've had juveniles walk out the door and you knew something was going to happen. I don't know what the legal fix is. That's certainly not my area of expertise.

[Nancy Grace]

Well, Chris, you point out something really valuable. And to Sonia Turner, following what Chris Hubbard has just said, the reaction by the school and I want to defend the school, along with you. Now that I understand what you're saying, the school reacted and they reacted appropriately. So it's not the reaction what Hubbard just said. It's before that. It's before the school has to react. How did he get the gun in there? Where did he get the gun? How did he know how to break down the gun? What kind of doors did the school have? Do they have metal detectors? Why didn't his file follow him to Apalachee High? I mean, it's like Apalachee's bringing a knife to a gunfight. They have no idea what they're dealing with. But let me ask you this, Sonia Turner. I know as a victim of violent crime and having dealt with crime victims my whole life, now you're never the same after. How are your girls and how is this affecting them?

[Sonya Turner]

I want to share something about one of the victims as quickly as I can. They said at our vigil last night, which. Which was absolutely amazing. Mason, the young man that was killed, one of his favorite video games was Kingdom of Hearts, and I'd never heard of it, but what they talked about is the whole premise of that video game was it's a story of light overcoming the darkness and the ultimate sacrifice did that child make. But last night at that vigil, all we saw was light. But love will prevail in the situation. It's just, I hate that those families lost their loved ones that day.

[Crime Stories Narrator]

Victim Griffith states, quote, I got shot twice. Once in my wrist, once in my upper arm. I lost ability to use my left hand. But on some days, it doesn't feel like that's the biggest thing I lost. After the shooting, I lost my independence. I couldn't put on my own clothes or do my own hair. Things that were easy for me became a challenge. Another classmate told Colton Gray, I hate everything about you. I hate the scars you left on my body. I hate that you took innocent lives in front of innocent people. Most of all, I hate that I let you live in my mind. Oh, dear Lord in heaven. Can you imagine the parents of the murdered students?

[CarMax Representative]

14 year old student Colt Gray asks his first period teacher at Apalachee High School how the school would respond to an active shooter situation. The teacher notices Gray's backpack seems unusually heavy and emails school administrators with concerns about the student. Gray's second period algebra class teacher didn't see the email and allows Gray to leave the classroom just before 10am ostensibly to meet with his guidance counselor. Sneaking into a bathroom, Gray pulls out his rifle and returns to class. Knocking on the classroom door. A student gets up to let him in and sees Gray standing with a rifle at the door telling the teacher he's got a gun Colt. Gray enters a nearby class and fires between 10 and 15 rounds. Gray then goes down the hallway firing at those leaving their rooms to see what's happening. In the end, two students and two teachers are dead. Nearly two years later, the now 16 year old Gray pleads guilty to 55 criminal charges, including four counts of murder. In a non negotiated plea deal, the judge has the opportunity to sentence Gray to life in prison with or without parole. Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Prim hands down a sentence of life in prison with no chance for parole.

[Crime Stories Narrator]

We wait as justice unfolds. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace Crime Stories Signing off Goodbye friends.

[Amazon Health AI / Troy Millings / Tony Ayo]

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[Nancy Grace]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.