Accused Apalachee High School killer Colt Gray reportedly only enrolled at the school two weeks prior to the shooting, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith reportedly said Thursday, also noting the shooting occurred during Colt Gray’s second day on the school campus.
Smith revealed the information about the teen’s academic history to NBC News on Thursday.
It is unclear why Colin Gray or Marcee Gray, the parents of the 14-year-old, did not enroll Colt Gray at the high school before the beginning of the academic school year, which commenced on August 1, according to the Barrow County School System calendar.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, which interviewed Colt Gray and Colin Gray after receiving an FBI tip in May 2023, told The Georgia Star News on Friday it was not aware of any truancy issues related to Colt Gray (pictured above) and referred The Star News to the schools the teen attended.
Jackson County School System told The Star News the teen was enrolled from February 8, 2022 to August 19, 2022, at which time a spokesman said Colt Gray “was un-enrolled from our system.”
During a May 2023 interview, prompted after Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies received an FBI tip indicating the teen sent messages about attacking a school, Colin Gray indicated his son was enrolled in the Jefferson City School System at Jefferson Middle School.
According to CBS News, the father said he regularly visited the school to check on Colt Gray and described his conversations with school officials to law enforcement. It remains unclear whether Colt Gray remained enrolled in the school system during the 2023-2024 school year, as his father expressed concern about academics to the deputies.
The father reportedly told law enforcement of his desire to “just kind of put your arms around him get him through seventh grade.”
The Star News asked the Jefferson City School System about Colt Gray’s enrollment period but did not receive an immediate response.
Colt Gray’s apparent recent transfer to the school and lack of time on campus could corroborate the early claim by a classmate that Colt Gray was often absent from school.
“He wasn’t there most times, either he just didn’t come to school or he just would skip class,” the purported classmate of Colt Gray told a CNN reporter on Wednesday. “Even when he would have talked, it was one-word answers or short statements.”
The Barrow County School System did not immediately return a press inquiry from TheStar News seeking to establish when Colt Gray was enrolled in the school system, whether the teen had attendance issues that rose to the level of truancy, or whether educators were informed of the May 2023 interview with Colin Gray and Colt Gray after the FBI tip was received.
Reports have since emerged suggesting Colt Gray had a troubled home life, with Marcee Gray claiming to have left a domestic abuser in 2023 and Colin Gray telling deputies about a complicated divorce in May 2023.
Colin Gray was arrested on Thursday and charged with committing offenses related to the Apalachee High School attack. An arrest warrant was issued Friday for Marcee Gray related to drug offenses police say she committed last November.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
