By Associated Press - Tuesday, September 10, 2024

When a sheriff’s investigator from neighboring Jackson County interviewed Colt Gray in 2023, his father said the boy had struggled with his parents’ separation and often got picked on at school.

The teen frequently fired guns and hunted with his father, who photographed him with a deer’s blood on his cheeks.

“He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do, and how to use them and not use them,” Colin Gray said, according to a transcript obtained from the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s report says investigator Daniel Miller spoke to the boy and his father on May 21, 2023. The father said his son had access to guns in the house.

“I mean they aren’t loaded, but they are down,” Gray’s father said, according to the interview transcript.

He described a photo on his cellphone from a recent hunting trip with his son: “You see him with blood on his cheeks from shooting his first deer.” Gray’s father called it “the greatest day ever.”

Colt Gray faces four counts of murder, but officials said Friday that more charges are coming in connection with last week’s mass shooting at Apalachee High School outside of Atlanta.

Colin Gray has also been charged. It’s alleged that he gave his son access to the gun when he knew or should have known that the teen was a danger to himself and others.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.