The father of the Georgia school shooting suspect described his son’s violent behavior during an interview after the attack

A federal investigator testified Tuesday that Colt Gray’s father testified that his 14-year-old son had become aggressive and needed counseling in the months leading up to the deadly 2024 shooting at a Georgia high school.

Colin Gray, 55, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of child abuse and five counts of reckless conduct. His son, Colt Gray, is accused of opening fire at Apalachee High School on September 4, 2024, killing two students, two teachers and wounding nine others.

Special agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Kelsey Ward, who interviewed Colin Gray about three hours after the incident, told the court that he said that Colt would try to fight him and that he tried to get help for his son by contacting counselors and mental health centers to explore the options of patient care.

But despite this about behavior, Gray said he still wanted to get his son into deer hunting to help deal with it. After the hunting trip where they were arrested, he told his son that maybe “Santa Claus” would bring him a gun, Gray told Ward, according to a taped interview played in court. He added that he bought his teenage son a gun for Christmas.

“You shot a deer for the first time in the woods, we bonded, it was like the greatest day ever,” Gray told Ward during the interview. “In my mind, I swear to God I thought he was going to be perfect from then on.”

Still, Gray told Ward, he saw troubling warning signs.

A few days before the shooting, Gray told Ward she saw a poster of Parkland Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz on her son’s bedroom wall. Gray said he didn’t know who Cruz was, but asked his son, who told him, “that’s one of the guys who did that last scene at school.”

Gray remembers giving her son “a pep talk” the day before the early-morning shooting, encouraging him to go to school the day after he was absent, Ward said.

“Let’s make a plan, we will figure this out,” he recalled telling his son, adding that he was proud of him.

On the morning of September 4, 2024, Gray recalled receiving texts from her son that worried her, including, “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault,” and “It’s not your fault.” Gray told Ward that he left work after receiving those messages and tried to find his son.

Gray went home and looked into Colt’s room, and that’s when he noticed that the AR gun he had kept in the corner of his room was missing.

Ward said Gray told him he would never think his son did what he was accused of.

“I mean, how is he going to walk around the yard with a long gun and get on a bus? There’s no way that’s who he is,” Gray told Ward.

Text messages shown in court show Gray asking his daughter, Jenny, if she had heard from her brother Colt on the day of the incident. Jenny attended Heyman Morris Middle School, which was next door to Apalachee High School, and told her father she was scared when the building was closed.

“No,” replied Jenny to her father. “But I think we’re thinking the same thing and I don’t want to talk about it in writing.”

“Yes, 10 four I’ll be there in just a few,” Gray wrote to his daughter.