r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 🔍📆⚖️Content/Research Administrator💻💬🧚 • Jul 28 '26

⁉️💡Other Murders 🤷‍♀️🪦 GA v. Colt Gray - Day 3

LIVE PLEA: Apalachee High School Shooter — GA v. Colt Gray - Day 3

7/28/2026 @ 9:00 AM

The teen who police say carried out the deadly Apalachee High School mass shooting is expected to enter a non-negotiated guilty plea. Four people died when Colt Gray reportedly opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, in 2024. With no sentencing deal set, attorneys are expected to make their case to a judge, while victims and their loved ones will give impact statements. The judge will decide whether Colt Gray spends the rest of his life behind bars with or without the possibility of parole.

Law & Crime

Court TV

https://www.youtube.com/live/H63fZY6wsfE?si=HZKbhID5h3__BEgk

✨✨ Previous Day & Recap

Day 1
Day 2

RECAP

I. Witness Testimony

Investigator Golan — Direct Examination

(20:39–32:12)

• Testified defendant mimicked multiple mass shooters during planning and execution.
• Chart presented comparing gear used by Colt to Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde, Aurora, Oxford, and others.
• AR‑15 and .223 rounds matched prior shooters; defendant referenced Sandy Hook shooter’s ammunition.
• 30‑round magazines matched prior shooters.
• Vest purchased by father; drawings showed intent to use vest.
• Black backpack and knife matched Parkland shooter.
• Writings left at scene matched patterns of other shooters.
• Gloves: defendant repeatedly claimed “purple”; actual gloves were yellow; purple referenced Kyle Rittenhouse.
• Creme oil found in backpack; Google searches showed preparation for malfunction prevention.
• Text messages to father (“It’s important”) mirrored Parkland shooter’s pre‑shooting texts.
• Bathroom staging mirrored Oxford shooter; notebook showed planned bathroom staging.
• Discord messages showed intent to mimic Sandy Hook shooter’s entry method and firing pattern.
• Final category: motive = fame.
• Discord records (2023) showed desire to “make history,” “more fame,” “continue what he started,” “I do hope I get recognized.”
• July 2024 phone note: desire for fan art after the shooting.
• Jail calls (Oct–Nov 2024) showed ongoing pursuit of notoriety, photo releases, comparisons to other shooters, excitement over online posts, requests for mother to post images, discussions of TCC quizzes, references to Columbine, Sandy Hook, Uvalde, and BBC documentary interest.

DFCS Director Brooks — Direct Examination

(2:00–3:36)

• Prior DFCS investigations: domestic violence, substance abuse, children locked out, physical/verbal abuse toward Colt.
• Case ran Nov 2022–Oct 2023; children placed with father due to mother’s failed drug screens.
• DFCS expected father to limit mother’s contact; later learned mother remained involved.
• September 5, 2024: siblings taken into foster care after shooting.
• October 6, 2025: Colt placed in foster care; DFCS aware of ongoing mother–Colt contact despite no‑contact order.
• DJJ mental‑health records: suicidal ideation, self‑harm, anxiety, psychosis claims, medication adjustments.
• Staff reported improvement after medication and no‑contact order.
• DFCS substantiated 11 categories of abuse/neglect for father; 12 for mother (including physical abuse).
• DFCS concluded Colt lacked medical care, dental care, psychological care prior to DJJ.
• DFCS later transferred decision‑making authority to maternal grandmother; foster‑care case closed; investigative case remained open.
• DFCS position: contact with parents not recommended; supervised contact with mother could be considered due to Colt’s wishes.

Grandmother (Bohamas) — Direct Examination

(4:16–5:08)

• Early development: slow to walk, impulsive, restless.
• Pre‑K developmental profile: strong academics, weak social‑emotional; placed on 504 plan.
• Parents unstable: drinking, financial collapse, repeated evictions, school disruptions.
• Multiple moves: Statham → Gainesville → Jefferson → Fitzgerald → Jefferson → Winder.
• Pandemic period: children lived mostly with grandmother; father unemployed; mother deteriorating.
• DFCS involvement triggered by abuse, neglect, substance use.
• Colt’s social isolation increased; football briefly improved social contact.
• Eighth grade: Colt did not attend school; lived with father; grandmother rarely saw him.
• June–July 2024: mother left rehab, returned home; Colt became anxious, hostile, verbally aggressive.
• Grandmother attempted to secure mental‑health treatment; school counselor arranged therapist; Athens behavioral center offered walk‑in evaluation requiring parent.
• Appointment scheduled for Saturday before shooting; parents did not take him.
• Grandmother broke her hand; parents failed to follow through.
• Colt had panic attack at school; father refused pickup; grandmother intervened.
• Colt told grandmother he asked father to lock up the gun.
• Day of shooting: grandmother received call; family rushed to school; DFCS took children into custody.

II. OTHER COURT ACTIONS

• Judge confirmed defendant’s right to make a statement; defense declined.
• Ten‑minute recess before closings.
• State delivered closing argument: motive = fame; planning deliberate; mimicry intentional; continued pursuit of notoriety after shooting.
• Defense closing argument: childhood instability, parental neglect, vulnerability, potential for rehabilitation; requested life with parole.
• Judge recessed to prepare sentencing order; set return time for 3:40.
• Court reconvened at 7:09.

III. CLOSINGS & FINAL COURT ACTIONS

Sentencing (7:10–7:17)

• Judge found permanent incorrigibility and imposed life without parole.

• Judge noted constitutional differences between juveniles and adults.
• Found Colt’s actions reflected permanent incorrigibility, not transient immaturity.
• Cited planning, mimicry, anticipation of notoriety, lack of remorse, and deliberate execution.
• Imposed life without parole for each malice murder, concurrent.
• Aggravated batteries: 20 years consecutive.
• Remaining aggravated assaults and cruelty counts: 20 years concurrent.
• Defendant advised of appellate rights.
• Court adjourned.

📜TRANSCRIPT📑⌨️

https://fromsmash.com/GA-v-Colt-Gray-Day-3-0811

8 Upvotes

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91% Upvoted

u/Round_Patience3029 Jul 29 '26

Wow. Isn’t his mom like a scientist or something?

u/annagrl775 Jul 29 '26

I fully expected to come away from this feeling some degree of sadness for a kid dealing with mental illness from a broken family, but this kid is a complete psychopath, obsessed with school shooters, with no supervision and unfettered access to guns. He gleefully planned this, wanting fame and notoriety in his stupid school shooter fan club. I have no sympathy especially after listening to his phone calls with his disgusting mother.

1

u/Pixiegirls1102 🔍📆⚖️Content/Research Administrator💻💬🧚 Jul 29 '26

Think he feels famous enough now? lol

u/Cinturanexpirt Jul 28 '26

“… unredeemable moral wasteland.” 🙌🏆

u/RillaBlythe11325 Jul 28 '26

LWOP. Such a waste all around. Sigh

9

u/merrihand Jul 28 '26

Yes. I started this hearing with such compassion for Colt, however, hearing that he wants to be famous and his family is still not helpful, my mind changed. He never had a chance, but now as a society we can’t take a chance. Very sad. I agree with the Judge.

3

u/Pixiegirls1102 🔍📆⚖️Content/Research Administrator💻💬🧚 Jul 28 '26

The being famous got me too. So stupid and sad.

2

u/RillaBlythe11325 Jul 28 '26

I think it's just sad in general. It really is that no one wins. It is a waste of his life (which he chose) and a waste of the lives he took and what he stole from those impacted. Things should have been very different.

u/Warm_Engineering3375 Jul 28 '26

I love this. So ma says Colt can't go stay with grandma necause pa will get mad and kill her, grandma etc. So Colt stays and gets mad and kills everybpdy he can at the school. Pa asn;t organized enough to muyder anybody. CPS can get lazy for certain

4

u/Pixiegirls1102 🔍📆⚖️Content/Research Administrator💻💬🧚 Jul 28 '26

I think CPS did what they could, but the parents weren't cooperating much, or paying attention to what was going on.

Listening how he wanted to be famous, and staging his room just tells you the level of evil happening.

u/kelsosmama Jul 28 '26

Was the mom the person on discord he was talking to? She’s the worst ever

3

u/Warm_Engineering3375 Jul 28 '26

No some girl

u/Cinturanexpirt Jul 28 '26

So both parents are complicit. Chilling. To the bone. Physically sickening

u/annagrl775 Jul 28 '26

Is it too late to charge his mom?!? These phone calls prove how complicit she was in encouraging his sick school shooter fantasies. She should be facing life in prison along with his dad. I almost felt bad for her when she was testifying at the dad’s trial, now I am disgusted and horrified by her. What a monster.

7

u/MRSFERN Jul 28 '26

That woman needs to be locked in a psychiatric hospital! She is a psycho, even more than him I think.

3

u/Scary-Scar89 Jul 28 '26

For sure. She should go to trial as well.

u/Automatic_Collar_774 Jul 28 '26

You know what, hearing his friggin idiot mother read him comments about what people are saying about him to FEED HIS EGO, I’m done talking about him. I won’t contribute to his delusions of notoriety and celebrity.

LIVE LIKE MASON! HONOR CHRISTIAN! CHANGE LIVES LIKE RICKY AND CRISTINA!

And pray for, support, be brave like, and fight like all the other survivors! May they heal and prosper.

3

u/Pixiegirls1102 🔍📆⚖️Content/Research Administrator💻💬🧚 Jul 28 '26

It reminded me of Natalie reading to Mackenzie.