July 28, 2026, 3:56 PM EDT / Updated July 28, 2026, 4:11 PM EDT
By Dan Gallo and Corky Siemaszko
Ga. — The teenager who used the assault-style rifle he got for Christmas to kill two students and two teachers at his Georgia high school will spend the rest of his life in prison
Colt Gray, 16, was sentenced Tuesday to life without parole for the deadly Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School that also left another teacher and eight more students wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire
Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm handed down the sentence days after Gray pleaded guilty to all 55 counts against him, including murder
“You do not seem to be tormented by what you did, you seem to relish following in the footsteps of the murderers you idolize,” Primm told Gray. “You aren’t wracked with guilt. You’re proud of yourself.”
Primm added, “There’s no joy here.”
“It’s only a measure of closure,” the judge said. “The slain will not return to life. The injured will not forget their wounds, and a 16-year-old, 16-year-old boy, will live and die in prison.”
Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was charged as an adult. His trial had been scheduled to start in mid-October
But Gray entered the plea without having reached a deal with prosecutors. And he declined to address the court at his sentencing hearing Tuesday
That left it to the judge to decide whether Gray should be eligible for parole after hearing victim statements and each side’s summary of a case that has loomed large over the Atlanta suburb of Winder
Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting
Their survivorsurged the judgeto impose the maximum sentence in victim impact statements delivered in court Friday
“It is a life sentence of grief and trauma for those left behind,” Aspinwall’s wife, Shayna, told the court. She said their daughters were 2 and 5 when their father was killed and their lives will be “forever marked by his absence.”
Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son Mason was killed, said that while Gray may have been failed by the adults in his life, it was his decision to commit mass murder
“Those decisions were his and his alone,” she said
Psychologist Kevin Richards, a witness for the defense, described Gray as a “lonely, dysfunctional kid” who had a “chaotic” childhood
“I thought he was kind of an odd kid,” Richards said at the sentencing hearing Monday
His parents abused drugs, had financial problems, and fought a lot, Richards said. The family moved frequently and there were long stretches when Gray wasn’t enrolled in school, he said
So Gray immersed himself online with the “true crime” community and became obsessed with school shootings, Richards said
Previously, investigators said they found in Colt’s bedroom what they described as a shrine to Nikolas Cruz, who was sentenced to lifewithout parole four years ago for the 2018 shooting at a Florida high school that left 14 students and three staff members dead
Gray, investigators said, also became obsessed with the gunmen responsible for 1989 mass shooting in Colorado at Columbine High School and 2012 killings of mostly children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut
Gray was “kind of obsessed” with them, Richards said
Ashley Gilleland, an investigator with the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office, testified Tuesday that Gray had more than 2,000 photos of Cruz saved on his phone and more photos of Cruz printed and posted on his bedroom wall
Gray, Gilleland said, hoped “to gain some sort of fame or notoriety from” attacking his classmates at school
To further buttress that argument, the state played recordings of jail calls between Gray and his mother Marcee Gray from October and November 2024 during which Gray sounded thrilled to be compared to Cruz and other mass killers
“I’m in the big leagues, bro,” he said in one call
Gray’s grandmother, Debbie Polhamus, testified that her grandson spent long stretches of time with her because his parents were so unstable
“Well, they always had issues,” Polhamus said. “They were doing a lot of drinking at that time, and then they got way behind on their bills.”
Polhamus said Gray’s dad, Colin Gray, kept dozens of guns in the house and not all of them were locked up. She said he bought the Gray the gun he used to attack his classmates in order to bond with his son
“He really wanted to find something that they could do together,” she said
Colin Gray was convicted by a jury in March on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for giving his son what turned out to be a multiple murder weapon
Just before 10 a.m. on the day of the shooting, Gray told his second-period teacher that he needed to see a crisis counselor but instead went to a bathroom to get ready to attack the school, police said
When he was unable to re-enter his classroom, Gray marched down the hall to another classroom and opened fire and also shot at other people in the hallway, police said
Gray surrendered to law enforcement officers, and prosecutors played a recording of his interview with investigators during which he sobbed hysterically and repeatedly apologized, calling what he did “horrible” and “the worst nightmare for everyone involved.”
The teenager also described having uncontrollable urges and said he was supposed to see a doctor. “I was so close to getting the help I need and the medication I need,” he told investigators
But Gray, prosecutors said, had methodically planned the school shooting, and investigators described finding a notebook in which the teen detailed a step-by-step plan on how he would get himself ready in the bathroom
It also came out in the pre-trial investigation that sheriff’s deputies had interviewed Colt and Colin Gray in May 2023 about an online threat linked to the son. Colt Gray denied making the threat
During Colin Gray’s trial, an investigator testified that he had sought help for his son from a counseling service weeks before the school shooting but failed to follow through
Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators she had urged her husband weeks before the shooting to secure his guns and restrict their son’s access to them
Over time, Colin Gray bought the teenager ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories, court records show
Dan Gallo reported from Winder, GA and Corky Siemaszko reported from New York
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