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A Barrow County Sheriff's officer handcuffs convicted Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 16, on July 28, 2026, following Gray's sentencing to life in prison without parole.
Credit: Chase McGee / GPB News
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Apalachee High School shooter, 16, sentenced to life without parole
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WINDER, Ga. — Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray has been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, days after pleading guilty to 55 charges for the September 2024 killings of four people.
Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm handed down the sentence after three days of victim impact statements, evidence, and expert testimony.
"You weren't being bullied at Apalachee," Primm said in his statement to Gray, 16, before sentencing. "It wasn't done out of hatred. You didn't even know anyone at that school. It was done for the infamy of it."
Over several hours, prosecutors argued that Gray faked symptoms of severe mental illness like schizophrenia to potentially use the insanity defense in court.
Gray’s defense attorneys pointed to Gray’s abusive childhood and inaction on the part of Colin Gray, who has been convicted of second-degree murder for providing the rifle Colt used in the shooting.
The state claimed that Gray was aware of his actions, sent messages as early as 2023 planning a mass shooting, and participated in a decentralized online fandom called the “True Crime Community” or TCC, whose users can form parasocial relationships or unhealthy fixations on perpetrators of violent crimes.
District Attorney Brad Smith made connections between statements made by Gray to law enforcement, and historic facts of other mass shootings, such as destroying a computer and displaying it for police like Adam Lanza did in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting or claiming, falsely, that he wore purple gloves during the shooting like gunman Kyle Rittenhouse did during 2020 unrest in Minnesota.
Barrow County District Attorney’s Office Investigator Ashely Gilleland presented dozens of jail calls between Colt Gray and his mother, Marcee.
The two often discussed Colt’s rising fame in the TCC, fan art made of him, or how well social media posts made about him were performing.
Defense Attorney W. Charlton Allen led Gray’s defense, questioning Dr. Keith Richards, Gray’s forensic psychologist, and Deborah Polhamus, Gray’s grandmother.
Dr. Richards said that Gray exhibited symptoms of anxiety, depression, and paranoia, but was not schizophrenic and could not have effectively used an insanity defense in his case.
Polhamus described episodes in Gray’s early childhood where his parents abused him, used substances in the house, and physically neglected their three children.
That history of abuse was corroborated on the witness stand by Georgia Department of Family and Child Services Director Candice Broce, who managed parts of Gray’s transition into care of the state while incarcerated.
Gray declined an opportunity to speak from the witness stand.
His father, Colin Gray, will appear in Barrow County Superior Court on Thursday for a sentencing hearing for 27 charges related to his providing the rifle used in the shooting.
He faces a minimum sentence of time served, and a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison.
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