Teenager Accused in Georgia High School Shooting Faces Sentencing Hearing

A plea and sentencing hearing has been set by a judge for a teenager accused of murdering four people during a high school mass shooting in Georgia.

Colt Gray, 16, has pleaded not guilty to charges including murder in the September 2024 shooting that killed two students and two teachers, and left several others wounded at Apalachee High School.

The judge overseeing Gray’s case filed a “Non-Negotiated Plea and Sentencing Hearing” on Friday, which is scheduled to begin July 24.

Previously, the judge ruled that if the 16-year-old wanted to plead guilty ahead of trial, he must notify the state and court by Wednesday.

A non-negotiated plea indicates that the state and the defense have not come to an agreement regarding a sentence.

This stands in contrast to a negotiated plea, or plea deal, where a defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for an agreed-upon sentence and potentially reduced charges.

With a non-negotiated plea, the sentencing decision rests entirely with the judge. The judge will then determine the sentence after both sides have presented summaries of their cases and offered their respective sentencing recommendations.

Colt Gray's attorney did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment Sunday.

Gray's trial was originally set to begin in mid-October in Columbia County, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Barrow County where the shooting happened, after the judge agreed to a defense request to change the venue.

Gray's father, Colin Gray, was convicted by a jury in March on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors said he gifted his teenage son the assault-style rifle used to open fire at the school.

The elder Gray is set to be sentenced later this month.

The Sept. 4, 2024, shooting killed teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14.

Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.

Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was charged as an adult with 55 total counts, including murder, cruelty to children and 25 counts of aggravated assault.

Investigators testified that Colt Gray carried the rifle given to him by his father onto the school bus with the barrel wrapped in a poster board.

They said the teenager left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the rifle, shooting people in a classroom and hallway.

Investigators have said the teenager carefully plotted the shooting at the high school northeast of Atlanta with 1,900 students.

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified that the boy left a notebook in his classroom with step-by-step instructions and a diagram to prepare for the assault, including an estimate that he could kill as many as 26 people and wound as many as 13 others.

Colt and Colin Gray were interviewed by sheriff's deputies in May 2023 about an online threat linked to Colt Gray. Colt Gray denied making the threat at the time.

He skipped 8th grade, enrolled as a freshman at Apalachee after the academic year began, and then skipped multiple days of school.

Family members had been seeking psychological help for Colt Gray before the shooting, but it appeared he never saw a counselor.

Colt’s mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators that she had argued with Colin Gray weeks before the shooting, asking him to secure his guns and restrict Colt’s access. Instead, over time, he bought the boy ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories, records show.

Colt Gray even created a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors said.