WINDER, Ga. — The deadly shooting at Apalachee High School took place on the suspected shooter's first "real day" at the school, according to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.
"Emotionally, it’s hard," he said. "I feel like this — that Colt Gray moved here, he took advantage of the system and thought that he could get away with it."
11Alive reviewed investigative files and spoke with neighboring school districts to learn more about the 14-year-old suspect's school history.
A spokesperson for Hall County Schools confirms he was with them for three months, from Aug. 8, 2019, to Nov. 21, 2019.
He later attended West Jackson Middle School, part of the Jackson County School System, from February 2022 to August 2022. He finished sixth grade and then started seventh grade there before transferring to a neighboring district, a spokesperson told 11Alive.
Gray then enrolled at Jefferson Middle School, part of the city school district, where his dad, Colin Gray, told investigators he finished seventh grade.
"He's getting picked on at school, and that's why I keep going up there," Colin said during a May 2023 investigation. "He should be excited about getting into 8th grade. It was just very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on."
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office investigation looked into whether Colin or his son Colt had made school shooting threats online. Colin denied those allegations, telling investigators that Colt's classmates "ridiculed him day after day after day" and that he wanted to move out of the school district.
"I don't want him to fight anybody, but they just keep like pinching him and touching him and like words are one thing, but you start touching him, and that's a whole different deal," Colin Gray said. "He's gone through a lot... he just wants to have a simple life."
The May 2023 case was exceptionally cleared "due to the inconsistent nature of the information received by the FBI." Investigators said the "allegation that Colt or Colin is the user behind the Discord account that made the threat cannot be substantiated."
Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum isn't sure whether any area schools were actually notified by her team about the possible threats.
"I have an (sic) email that says area schools were notified. That's all I can say," she told reporters Monday. "The schools are saying they have no documentation of it."
