The Daily Populous Saturday July 25th, 2026 night edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by igetproteinfartsHELP

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.

Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share

WINDER, Ga. (AP) — A teenager has pleaded guilty to all 55 counts, including murder, in a shooting nearly two years ago at Apalachee High School in Georgia that killed two students and two teachers.

Colt Gray, 16, entered the plea Friday without having reached a deal with prosecutors. The Sept. 4, 2024, shooting also left several others wounded at the school of 1,900 students about 45 miles (73 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.

Gray, who was 14 at the time, was charged as an adult. His trial had been scheduled to start in mid-October.

A jury in March convicted his father, Colin Gray, on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Prosecutors said he gave his son the assault-style rifle used to open fire at the school.

Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.

This combination of images show shooting victims, from left, Christian Angulo, Mason Schermerhorn, Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall, displayed at a memorial outside Apalachee High School, Sept. 10, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon, File) This combination of images show shooting victims, from left, Christian Angulo, Mason Schermerhorn, Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall, displayed at a memorial outside Apalachee High School, Sept. 10, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook

Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm questioned Gray to ensure he understood the consequences of his plea and was entering it voluntarily. Gray responded, “Yes, your honor,” each time.

Murder carries a minimum sentence of life in prison. The judge must decide whether Gray should be eligible for parole after hearing victim statements, evidence and each side’s summary of the case.

Victim: ‘Those decisions were his and his alone’

Colt Gray, left, the 16-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect, stands next to his attorney Charlton Allen and pleads guilty at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, Ga., on Friday, July 24, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Colt Gray, left, the 16-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect, stands next to his attorney Charlton Allen and pleads guilty at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, Ga., on Friday, July 24, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook

Family members of those killed and students who were shot gave statements, expressing anger and grief, with most asking the judge to sentence Gray to life without parole.

Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son Mason was killed, said she doesn’t forgive Gray. While adults around him missed warning signs, she said, he brought the gun and pulled the trigger.

“Those decisions were his and his alone,” she said.

Breanna Schermerhorn, the mother of Mason Schermerhorn, looks toward Colt Gray during the plea hearing for the 16-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, Ga, on July 24, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Breanna Schermerhorn, the mother of Mason Schermerhorn, looks toward Colt Gray during the plea hearing for the 16-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, Ga, on July 24, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook

Shayna Aspinwall, Richard Aspinwall’s wife, lamented that the lives of their daughters, who were 2 and 5 when their father died, will be “forever marked by his absence.”

“It is a life sentence of grief and trauma for those left behind,” she said.

A teenage student who was shot told the judge she remembered feeling “really scared and confused because I saw Colt standing in the door with a gun.” The Associated Press is not identifying the girl, who is a minor.

Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy

She said she realized she had been shot and asked a friend to hold her hand. She asked other friends to call her brother to let him know she’d been shot and didn’t know if she’d make it. She had multiple surgeries and wasn’t able to walk for about a year.

“After the shooting, I struggled with so much anxiety, and I felt like my life was over,” she said.

Apalachee High School Principal Jessica Rehberg said Colt Gray’s “cruel actions” deserve “the harshest consequences.”

The hearing is set to resume Monday, and Gray’s defense attorney wrote in a court filing that he plans testimony from a psychologist, a juvenile detention center counselor and Gray’s grandmother.

Investigator says Colt Gray carefully plotted the shooting

Barrow County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Jason Smith testified about the timeline. Gray told his second period teacher just before 10 a.m. that he needed to see a crisis counselor but instead went to a bathroom to prepare for the shooting, Smith said.

He emerged from the bathroom at 10:21 a.m., and when he was unable to reenter his classroom, he went down the hall to another classroom, where he opened fire and then shot other people in the hallway. He ultimately surrendered to law enforcement officers.

Smith said he interviewed Gray at the school and again at the sheriff’s office.

Prosecutors played a recording of the interview at the school. Gray sobbed hysterically during questioning. He repeatedly apologized, said he wasn’t trying to justify his actions and said what happened was “horrible” and “the worst nightmare for everyone involved.”

He talked about having uncontrollable urges and hearing people tell him to do things and said he was supposed to see a doctor soon: “I was so close to getting the help I need and the medication I need.”

Gray told Smith that right before the shooting he felt things were getting really bad and he feared he was going to be attacked. He repeatedly mentioned believing teachers, and possibly students, were plotting against him.

The teenager was much calmer several hours later during the second interview. He said he didn’t target anyone specifically and didn’t know how many people he’d killed.

“Colt indicated that it was spontaneous, that it was a last minute thing,” that he heard voices and on the way to the crisis counselor and “decided to do the shooting,” Smith testified. But the investigation showed that the shooting had been planned in detail for some time, he said.

Colt Gray, the 16-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect, is led in by deputies for a plea hearing at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, Ga., on Friday, July 24, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Colt Gray, the 16-year-old Apalachee High School shooting suspect, is led in by deputies for a plea hearing at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, Ga., on Friday, July 24, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook

The investigator described a notebook Gray had that included a detailed step-by-step plan to get himself ready in the bathroom that included notations like, “Don’t shoot anyone in the bathroom. You will alert people.”

On one page he wrote, “I’m not a killer,” and “I’m scared.” On multiple pages, he wrote “why” dozens of times. He also estimated the number of people he would kill and injure. On one page, he wrote, “Surprised if I make it.”

Sheriff’s deputies had previously interviewed Colt and Colin Gray in May 2023 about an online threat linked to the son. Colt Gray denied making the threat.

Investigators found a shrine in Colt Gray’s bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors have said. Gray told Smith he “became obsessed with him on an emotional level,” referring to Cruz.

An investigator testified during Colin Gray’s trial that he had sought help for his son from a counseling service weeks before the shooting but then failed to follow through.

Colt Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators she had urged him weeks before the shooting to secure his guns and restrict their son’s access to them. Instead, over time, Colin Gray bought the teenager ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories, records show.

Whatdoesthibattahndo on July 24th, 2026 at 15:46 UTC »

To be honest, I don't even remember this one

AhBee1 on July 24th, 2026 at 13:59 UTC »

His father has already been charged as he gave his son the AR used to kill.

slowlyaware on July 24th, 2026 at 13:57 UTC »

I hope he never gets out once sentenced