Colt Gray is expected to change course in court later this month, abandoning his not guilty stance in connection with a deadly 2024 shooting at an Atlanta-area high school that left four dead.
Court filings show the 16-year-old will appear for a plea hearing on July 24 in Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, Georgia. Unlike a negotiated plea deal where prosecutors and defense agree on sentencing, Gray faces what the court has labeled a "non-negotiated plea and sentencing hearing," meaning the judge will decide punishment after hearing arguments from both sides.
Gray faces 55 criminal counts stemming from the September 2024 attack at Apalachee High School, including malice murder, aggravated battery, and aggravated assault. The second-degree murder charges alone carry sentences up to 30 years, with potential total exposure reaching 180 years behind bars.
The judge had previously set a July 15 deadline for Gray to notify the court and prosecutors of any intent to change his plea before trial. Gray, now 16, was 14 when he carried a semiautomatic rifle onto campus in a book bag, later emerging from a bathroom to open fire in classrooms and hallways.
The shooting killed two teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie, and two students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Eight other students and another teacher were wounded.
Gray has remained in juvenile detention since his arrest. In late 2025, his attorneys indicated plea negotiations were ongoing, prompting the judge to establish the July 24 hearing date.
Father faces murder conviction
The case has extended beyond the shooter himself. Gray's father, Colin Gray, was convicted in March of second-degree murder in the shooting, marking the first such parental conviction in Georgia tied to a mass shooting carried out by their child.
Prosecutors argued Colin Gray showed "criminal negligence" by providing his son access to the rifle and ammunition despite warning signs about the teenager's violent tendencies. Colin Gray acknowledged giving his son the weapon but claimed he intended it to bond through hunting and target shooting.
Author James Rodriguez: "A July plea would spare the community a trial, but the sentencing hearing promises to be anything but quiet on the question of how much responsibility falls on the father who bought the gun."
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