In 2023, Jackson County, Georgia, officers spoke face-to-face with the boy who is now charged with murder in the deaths of four people at Apalachee High School in Winder on Wednesday.
Sheriff’s officers described their interactions in a detailed investigative report from May 21, 2023, when suspect Colt Gray was 13, after being notified by the FBI of a threat on the messaging app Discord about a school shooting threat. Discord is popular with some video gamers.
Gray said he had previously deleted a Discord account and denied he would make such a threat, “even in a joking manner,” according to the report.
Gray’s father, Colin, told police he had shotguns in the house but that his son “didn’t have free access to them.” Both weapons were “locked up,” the father told them. Authorities said the shooting was carried out with an AR-style rifle.
VIDEOS FROM INSIDE APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL SHOW GUN, ORDERS EVACUATIONS
People attend a vigil at Jug Tavern Park following a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. (REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage)
“I urged Colin to keep his firearms locked up and advised him to keep Colt out of the school until this matter was resolved,” investigator Daniel Miller Jr. wrote.
Jackson County investigators were unable to substantiate the threat on Discord, which came from a user profile that spelled Lanza in Russian, the report said. Adam Lanza carried out the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
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The agent also discovered that the information sent to the FBI was communicated via different IP addresses around the world: Palmdale, California, Los Angeles and Cockburn, Australia. He also examined the email address and phone number linked to the case as well as the user profile linked to the threats.
A screenshot from a video shows the weapon allegedly used in the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. (Alexsandra Romero/Joel Romero via Storyful)
“At this time, due to the inconsistent nature of the information received by the FBI, the allegation that (the Apalachee shooting suspect or his father) is the user behind the Discord account that made the threat cannot be substantiated,” the investigator wrote in 2023. “This case will be exceptionally closed.”
The FBI said Thursday that the bureau has not directly investigated the suspect behind the mass shooting at a Georgia high school this week, but has shared the anonymous tip with local law enforcement.
The report describes the suspect as “quiet and reserved as we spoke to him.” Colin Gray said his family had recently been evicted from their previous home, that he and his wife were divorced and that “she had taken the two youngest children.”
“Colin indicated that his 13-year-old son had some problems at West Jackson Middle School and that now that he is attending Jefferson Middle School, the situation has improved significantly,” the report reads.
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An FBI source told Fox News Digital that if there is no immediate threat to life, it is customary to notify local law enforcement, provide information and ask them to investigate the information.
“There are limits to what you can do when you get these warnings,” former FBI agent Rob D’Amico told “FOX & Friends First” Thursday.
GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING INVESTIGATORS FOCUS ON 14-YEAR-OLD SUSPECT’S HISTORY, INTERNET PAST, EXPERT SAYS
Cars are parked on the side of a road as law enforcement works the scene of a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. (REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage)
“Local police went to interview the father and son. He denied making these threats online,” D’Amico continued. “The father said the son did not have unrestricted access to the weapons. They did what they could and then left because there was no good reason to take any further action.”
A spokesperson for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told Fox News Digital that the alleged shooter’s parents “have been cooperative so far.”
The comment came in response to a question about whether authorities were investigating the shooter’s parents following Wednesday’s attack, which left four people dead and nine injured.
The suspect was booked into the Gainesville Area Youth Detention Center and charged with four counts of murder ahead of his first court appearance Friday morning. The Gainesville Area Youth Detention Center is located about an hour north of Apalachee High School in Winder.
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Women mourn during a vigil at Jug Tavern Park following the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. (Reuters/Elijah Nouvelage)
Matthew Fagiana, retired police sergeant and law enforcement consultant, told Fox News Digital that authorities focus on the 14-year-old suspect’s background and motive as they begin their investigation.
“Things such as the timeline of the incident, the suspect’s chronological history leading up to the shooting, a thorough review of the suspect’s background for things like interactions with victims, any indications of violent behavior, statements or social media posts that could help them develop a motive, and recent internet history,” he said.
“And that, of course, only scratches the surface of the investigation,” he added.
Fagiana noted that responding agencies, including the FBI’s Atlanta field office and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, are combing through the scene at Apalachee High School to build a “precise picture” of the suspect’s path through the school.
Greg Norman, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Stepheny Price of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
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