BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — The sentencing hearing for Apalachee High School shooter has resumed Tuesday morning.
Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty to mass shooting he carried out as a 14-year-old freshman at the school in September 2024. Four people died in the shooting: teachers Ricky Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.
Action News Jax’s Atlanta station WSB-TV is streaming the hearing. Watch below
Survivors and family members connected to the Apalachee High School shooting are in the courtroom for day three of Colt Gray’s sentencing.
Gray, 16, walked into the courtroom at 9:04 am. Judge Nicholas Primm will decide if he is sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.
Barrow County District Attorney’s Office will finish questioning Investigator Ashley Gilleland about Gray’s interest in school shootings.
DAY 2 RECAP
The day began with Forensic Psychologist Dr. Kevin Richards testifying that Gray’s chaotic upbringing caused anxiety and depression.
“There was a lot of moving around,” said Richards. “A lot of chaos. The family moved a large number of times.”
He said the parents were financially irresponsible. He noted some abuse by the dad, drug use by both parents.
“I believe there was a lot of abuse, neglect, transition and chaos,” said Richards.
Richards said Gray was also spending a lot of time on communication platforms online. That’s where Richards said the teen became part of what’s known as the True Crime Community, TCC.
Richards said Gray became focused on people who do mass shootings to the point of being obsessed.
“He was a lonely, dysfunctional kid who was anxious, paranoid, depressed and immersed in this dysfunctional world with people obsessed with school shootings,” said Richards.
Prosecutors called Peter Smith to the stand Tuesday. Smith researches extremist groups. He told the judge this True Crime Community intersects with Neo-Nazi groups.
“At it’s most extreme and violent, it glorifies and encourages mass violence,” said Smith
He said those who take it to the extreme mimic past mass shooters when committing their own crimes. He said that do that for notoriety and social standing with others in the TCC.
“There is a very clear problem of individuals who are part of these communities who progress toward violence or are encouraged by others in it to carry out those attacks,” said Smith.
DAY 1 RECAP
Families of those killed told the judge they prefer the maximum sentence. They delivered emotional victim impact statements after Gray pleaded guilty on Friday.
Breanna Schermerhorn, Mason’s mother, spoke first. She told the judge Gray knew the difference between right and wrong.
“I want it to be very clear that I do not forgive Mr. Gray,” said the mom. “The failures of the adults around him may explain parts of his story, but they do not excuse the decisions that he made. Those decisions were his and his alone, and because of those decisions, my Macy Mace is gone. My family, both biological and chosen, have been forced to endure horrors.”
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