Report sheds light on threats linked to Apalachee shooting suspect in 2023

WINDER, Georgia – An incident report sheds light on an alleged threatening incident in 2023 in which the 14-year-old suspect in the shooting at Apalachee High School on Wednesday was allegedly involved.

Colt Gray, a high school student, is facing murder charges in connection with the fatal shooting that left two students and two teachers dead.

On May 21, 2023, a Jackson County deputy responded to an FBI tip about a threat of a shooting at a middle school. The threat was made via the instant messaging platform Discord, the incident report states.

After checking Gray's previous home, officers went to a home on River Mist Circle in Jefferson.

Officers spoke with Gray and his father. Gray told officers that he used to have a Discord account but “deleted it prior to moving from their previous address,” about three months earlier. The report later states that Gray and his father moved in May.

The report said Gray “expressed concern that someone was accusing him of threatening to attack a school and stated that he would never say such a thing, even in jest.”

Gray's father said there were hunting rifles in the house and that Gray “was allowed to use them under supervision but did not have unfettered access to them.”

The incident report states that the FBI tip was investigated further on May 23. Tips were received from several IP addresses, but the exact location was unclear.

PHOTO GALLERY | THE VICTIMS:

The report says the note contained user information about the Discord account and that the email associated with it belonged to Gray. It also says the account was created on April 2, which is outside the time frame in which Gray says he deleted his account.

The report states that the note contained “inconsistent information.” IP addresses show that the Discord account was used in Fort Valley and Statesboro, but also in Buffalo, NY and Northern Virginia. The Discord account name was also Russian and the account's phone number was listed as a LaGrange phone number.

The translation of the Russian letters resulted in the word “Lanza,” which investigators used to refer to Adam Lanza, the shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

An officer spoke to Gray and his father again. Gray told authorities he stopped using his Discord account because “too many people were hacking his account and he was afraid someone would use his information for nefarious purposes.”

Father and son also told the officer that they neither knew the email address nor spoke Russian.

“Due to the conflicting nature of the information received by the FBI, the allegation that Colt or (his father) is the user behind the Discord account that made the threat cannot be substantiated at this time,” the report said.

In numbers

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the following incidents have occurred in Georgia schools since 2022:

• 97 incidents involving firearms
• Five deaths from firearms
• 17 gunshot wounds
• 72 arrests for weapons incidents

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