Newly released bodycam footage from May 2023 reveals a missed opportunity by law enforcement to intervene with the teen who would later allegedly carry out a deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia.

The footage, released by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, captures an interview between deputies, the teen, and his father months before the tragic events that left four people dead at the school on September 4, 2024.

The teen, identified as Colt Gray, was interviewed by Jackson County deputies after the FBI alerted local authorities about a potential school shooting threat made on the social media platform Discord.

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At the time of the interview, Colt was 13 years old and living with his father, Colin Gray.

In the bodycam footage, Colt denies making any threats related to school violence, telling the deputies, “I don’t know. Maybe they misheard somebody else. No, I swear.”

He also claimed to have deleted his Discord account, the platform where the alleged threats were made.

Despite the serious nature of the accusations, the deputies did not find enough evidence to take further action at the time.

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Colin Gray, Colt’s father, also spoke to the deputies during the May 2023 interview. He expressed concern about the allegations but insisted that he had spoken to his son about school shootings and took gun safety seriously.

Colin admitted to having several firearms in the home, but reassured the deputies that his son did not have access to loaded weapons. “They’re not loaded,” he told the officers. He also stated, “I don’t know anything about him saying (expletive) like that. And I’m going to be mad as hell if he did. And then all the guns will go away. And they won’t be accessible to him.”

Despite the father’s assurances, law enforcement later revealed that the AR-style rifle used in the September 2024 shooting had been a Christmas gift from Colin to his son. This revelation has become central to the investigation into how Colt obtained the weapon used in the attack.

In the months following the May 2023 interview, there was no further follow-up from law enforcement to ensure Colt no longer posed a threat.

Two days after the bodycam interview, investigators made a follow-up call to the Gray family, ultimately determining there was no probable cause to charge Colt or take further action.

It was later revealed that Colt’s new school, Apalachee High School, was not informed about the earlier investigation or the concerns regarding his behavior.

The school shooting on September 4, 2024, left four people dead and has led to widespread scrutiny of the handling of the earlier warnings.

On September 5, 2024, Colin Gray was arrested and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Law enforcement alleges that Colin knowingly allowed his son access to the firearm used in the attack, despite the earlier warning signs.

Breitbart News reported that the FBI had initially alerted Jackson County authorities to the potential threat over a year before the shooting.

However, after the 2023 interview, deputies appeared to take Colt at his word, with one officer telling him, “There is always someone you can talk to if you need to.”

The deputies also encouraged him to set goals for himself and seek help if necessary.

The bodycam footage also shows the deputies advising Colt to report any future threats he might hear about, but ultimately, the interview ended without further action.

The Apalachee High School shooting has left the community grappling with how the system failed to prevent the tragedy, despite early warnings from federal authorities.

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Original article below:

Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspect in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, had been on the FBI’s radar since last year, according to authorities.

Gray is accused of killing four people, including two students and two teachers, and injuring nine others in a violent rampage that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th.

The FBI’s Atlanta field office confirmed in a statement that they received several anonymous tips in May 2023 about online threats related to a potential school shooting.

To confirm, the subject referred to as the 13 year old is the same subject in custody related to today’s shootings at Apalachee High School.

— FBI Atlanta (@FBIAtlanta) September 5, 2024

The threats included photos of guns, which prompted an investigation by local authorities in Jackson County, where Gray and his family were living at the time.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office identified Gray, then 13 years old, as a possible suspect and interviewed both him and his father.

The father admitted to having hunting guns in the home but assured authorities that Gray did not have unsupervised access to them.

Gray denied making the threats, and without probable cause, no further legal action was taken. Local schools, however, were notified to keep an eye on the teen.

On Wednesday morning, Gray allegedly entered Apalachee High School armed with an AR-style weapon and opened fire around 10:30 a.m.

The victims included two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angelo, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie. Nine others were injured, including special education math teacher David Phenix, who was rushed to the hospital for gunshot wounds.

Phenix’s daughter, Katie Phenix, confirmed in a Facebook post that her father underwent surgery after being shot in the foot and hip, which shattered his hip bone. “We are so, so lucky, but please keep our family as well as the AHS family in your prayers,” she wrote.

Gray was arrested shortly after the attack when he “immediately surrendered” to two school resource officers who responded to the scene. Law enforcement has interviewed Gray, his family, and others close to him to try and piece together a motive.

As of now, officials have not determined why Gray carried out the shooting or whether anyone was specifically targeted. “I don’t know why it happened. We may never know,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said. Gray is expected to be charged as an adult with murder.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has confirmed that they are looking into potential connections between Gray’s online threats in 2023 and Wednesday’s shooting. “This is not recent, but we wanted to bring that to your attention because we are pursuing that, working with the FBI on any connection to that incident that could be related to today’s,” said GBI Director Chris Hosey.

He also noted that Gray’s family had prior contact with children’s services, and investigators are exploring whether that played any role in the shooting.

The Barrow County School System has announced that all schools in the district will remain closed for the rest of the week while law enforcement continues its investigation.

Grief counseling services will be made available to students and staff during this difficult time.

“This is everybody’s worst nightmare,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said in a statement. “These are our neighbors. These are our friends. And this community is hurting today.”

Gray’s case has reignited discussions about early intervention and the handling of potential threats by authorities.

Despite being flagged by the FBI and local law enforcement last year, no significant action was taken, and tragedy struck just over a year later.

Investigators are now tasked with determining whether warning signs were missed and what could have been done differently to prevent this devastating event.

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