(The Center Square) – A Georgia teenager accused of fatally shooting two classmates and two teachers at Apalachee High School in 2024 pleaded guilty and is expected to be sentenced on Friday afternoon.
Colt Gray entered his plea in Barrow County Court to the shooting that also wounded seven other people. There was no sentencing recommendation.
Gray was 14 years old at the time of the shooting but was being tried as an adult due to a Georgia law that allows anyone over the age of 13 who commits serious crimes, including murder, rape and armed robbery, to be charged as an adult.
After the guilty plea, Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm heard from family members of those who died in the shooting and others.
Brianna Schermerhorn, whose 14-year-old son Mason Schermerhorn was one of the students killed, told the judge that her son was fiercely protective of others who became friends with children who started off as his bullies.
“I have no doubt in my mind that if Colt had actually attended school, as he should have, that Mason would have befriended him,” Schermerhorn said. “That is a legacy he should be remembered for.”
The proceedings were streamed live on Atlanta’s News First.
Gray’s father, Colin Gray, was convicted of second-degree murder for allowing his son to have access to guns and failing to address what prosecutors called warning signs before the shooting.
The shooting led state lawmakers to pass school safety bills.
House Bill 268, signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2025, created a statewide emergency system to monitor threats against schools. The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency would oversee it.
Schools are required to adopt threat assessment plans and were to implement a mobile panic alarm system by July 1 as part of the bill. Apalachee High School had a panic alarm system at the time of the shooting, which lawmakers said saved lives during testimony on the bill.
The General Assembly considered a bill that would have added metal detectors at Georgia’s schools. The bill failed.
Some Georgia school districts have already added metal detectors. Rep. Karlton Howard, D-Augusta, said the detectors are at eight of 11 Augusta high schools. Each of them requires two people to man them, he said.