BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — The Jackson County Sheriff's Office released body camera footage of a 2023 conversation between two of their deputies and Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray and his father, Colin Gray.
The conversation was recorded 15 months before the school shooting.
Jackson County deputies went to Colin Gray's home on May 21, 2023, after the FBI received an anonymous tip alleging Colt Gray, who was 13 years old at the time, made a threat to shoot up an unspecified school over the gaming chat platform Discord.
"He gonna get all red-faced."
The video starts with Colin Gray answering the door in his underwear mid-afternoon and two Jackson County deputies asking if he can step outside and talk to them.
The deputy explained to Colin why they were at his house that Sunday afternoon. "So we got a tip from the FBI saying that somebody from your old address over there in Traditions made a threat to shoot up a school."
Colin Gray went inside and put on a pair of shorts before he walked out on his front porch. The deputies asked him if he had any kids, and Colin Gray confirmed that his son Colt Gray lived with him.
A deputy asked if he played a lot of video games.
"Yeah he does, like all the time," Colin Gray said.
The deputy then asked if he thought the threat was something Colt Gray might have said while playing a video game.
Colin Gray responded, "I damn sure want to know."
The deputy then asked if they could talk to Colt Gray, to which Colin Gray agreed but then stopped to explain Colt Gray's possible reaction to the deputy's line of questions.
"He gonna get all red-faced when you talk to him," Colin Gray explained.
He added, "just calm," as he gestured toward the deputies.
"He kind of struggled a little bit."
Before going to get Colt Gray, he asked the deputies if he could explain the family dynamic briefly. He mentioned that in July of 2022, the family was evicted from their home in Jackson County.
Colin Gray said he was at work, Colt Gray was at school, and his wife was home with their younger children when Jackson County deputies showed up and served the eviction notice.
Their belongings were removed from the home and put on the house's front lawn.
"It was fully embarrassing it was very traumatic for both of us," Colin Gray said.
He explained that he and his wife had split up. Colt Gray stayed with him, and his wife took their two younger children.
"In the beginning he kind of struggled a little bit," Colin Gray said.
"I'm gonna be mad as hell if he did and then all the guns will go away."
As Colin Gray finished explaining a little of what had transpired with their family over the past year, the deputy interrupted him and asked if he had any weapons in the house.
He acknowledged he did, and the deputy asked if the weapons were accessible to Colt Gray.
"They are, I mean, there's nothing loaded," ColinGray said.
He explained they do a lot of shooting and deer hunting, adding that Colt Gray shot his first deer that year.
"I'm pretty much in shock to be honest with you. I'm a little pissed off to be even really honest with you if that is what was said," Colin Gray said.
He told the deputy he had no knowledge of Colt Gray making any such threat.
"I'm gonna be mad as hell if he did, and then all the guns will go away and they won't be accessible," Colin Gray said.
He added he was trying to teach him about firearms and safety.
Colin Gray admitted, "He (Colt Gray) knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do and how to use them and not use them."
"It's a serious thing."
Colin Gray went inside after about 8 minutes of talking with the deputies. As Colt Gray walked out, the deputies asked if his dad explained why they wanted to speak to him.
Colt Gray was wearing a baseball cap and kept his hands in his pockets the entire time. He acknowledged it was something about a shooting.
When the deputy directly asked him if he had ever said anything about a school shooting, Colt Gray denied it and responded, "Maybe they misheard someone else."
The deputy pushed him a little more, asking if he was sure he never said he was going to shoot up a school.
"No, I swear," Colt Grayanswered.
The deputy asked Colt Gray if he used Discord, the gaming chat platform on which the threat was allegedly made. Colt admitted to having an account but said he had since deleted it.
He continued to deny that he'd made any threat on the platform.
After several minutes of questioning Colt Gray, the deputy said, "I got to take you at your word and hope you're being honest with me."
Colt Gray replied, "It's a serious thing. " He acknowledged he understood what the deputy was asking, as the deputy also explained that lying to police is "not unusual."
As deputies were wrapping up their interview, Colin Gray told Colt Gray to be honest with them about being bullied at school. Colt Gray didn't elaborate much on the bullying but noted he had moved around to several different schools.
Before the bodycam turned off the deputy said, "Apparently, he was getting bullied, very soft-spoken, reserved kid, pretty much unable to substantiate anything at this point."
In a text exchange between investigators, as they investigated the threat, it was asked if Colt Gray's dad had an AR-15. In a reply, it stated, "Only hunting rifles."
The case was cleared, as the deputy wrote that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Colt Gray made the threat.
A year and four months later, Colt Gray is now accused of carrying out one of, if not the deadliest, school shootings in Georgia's history.
His dad has also been charged in connection to the shooting. The GBI alleges Colin Gray knowingly allowed his son, Colt Gray, to possess the gun agents said was used in the Apalachee High School shooting.