Investigators reveal new details of school shooting after guilty plea, emotional victim statements
By Eric Levenson and CNN Staff
(CNN) – Colt Gray, now 16, pleaded guilty Friday to murder and other crimes for the 2024 shooting at his high school in Winder, Georgia, that left four people dead and nine injured.
Survivors who were shot and relatives of those who were killed delivered emotional victim impact statements describing how their lives have changed since the attack. Some addressed Gray directly, with one survivor telling him: “I hate everything about you.”
Gray, 14 at the time of the shooting, killed students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie. He wounded nine others in the attack at Apalachee High School.
During Friday’s court hearing, Barrow County Sheriff’s Office investigator Jason Smith read part of the teen’s notebook, which was left behind in his second-period classroom, detailing Gray’s plan for the shooting on September 4, 2024.
The courtroom heard audio of Gray during a police interview after the shooting. In it, Gray told an investigator he “became obsessed” with Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland, Florida school shooter.
“I became obsessed with him on an emotional level because I understood some of the stuff he came through,” Gray said.
Gray said they were both similarly neglected and bullied while growing up.
Investigators later found a shrine of photos to Cruz in Gray’s bedroom.
Gray is expected to be sentenced next week to life in prison, either with or without parole.
Earlier this year, his father, Colin Gray, was convicted of murder and manslaughter for buying his son a rifle and not securing it despite knowing he was a risk to others.
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