A 14-year-old boy is charged with killing 4 people at his Georgia high school. Here’s what we know

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with four counts of murder after allegedly killing two students and two teachers at his Georgia high school this week with a semi-automatic assault rifle.

Colt Gray had his first hearing friday after being charged as an adult in the latest mass shooting at a school in the US

Immediately after the hearing, his father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, appeared in the same courtroom, accused of multiple offenses, namely allowing his son to have a gun.

The shooting wednesday morning at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta, has left a father and son behind bars, families planning funerals and people wondering what happened and why.

This is what we currently know and what we don’t know.

WHAT WE KNOW: Colt Gray was in math class when he left the classroom, according to classmates. One of them thought he was skipping school again. But Gray returned and knocked on the locked door to open it. Students who approached the door saw something through the window and stepped back. Classmate Lyela Sayarath said she saw Gray turn around and then heard gunshots — “10 or 15 at a time, one after the other.” A school resource officer found the gunman, who surrendered at 10:26 a.m. Authorities say the suspect killed four people. Nine others were wounded, seven of them by gunfire. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says the suspect acted alone.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW: Authorities have not identified a motive for the shooting. Officials also have not said where in the school the victims were shot. Eyewitness accounts indicate some were shot in a hallway and at least one was shot in a classroom. It’s also not known how the suspect got to school that day; whether he rode the bus or got a ride; how the gun got into the school; and where it was before the shooting. Authorities say the school does not have metal detectors.

WHAT WE KNOW: Authorities have the four people killed as students Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14, and math teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. The eight students and one teacher who were taken to the hospital are expected to make a full recovery. Angulo’s sister Lisette described him on a GoFundMe fundraiser for his funeral as “a really good kid and so sweet and so caring.” A neighbor of Schermerhorn’s said he was an inquisitive boy he watched grow up from about age 4. Irimie was a recent immigrant from Romania who also helped teach a children’s dance group. Aspinwall was also the defensive coordinator for the high school’s football team, an old-school football coach who loved his wife, daughters, students and football, the head coach said.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW: Just as we don’t know a motive for the shooting, it’s also unknown whether the shooter targeted the victims or if it was pure coincidence.

WHAT’S KNOWN: Colt Gray is facing four counts of murder, but officials said Friday that more charges are coming. This isn’t the teen’s first run-in with authorities, who interviewed him last year over a social media post about a possible threat to shoot up a high school. Gray, then 13, said “he would never say something like that, even as a joke,” according to a report filed by investigators. No action was taken because of conflicting information about the social media account. Colin Gray told investigators at the time that Colt had access to unloaded guns in the home but knew “how to use them and how not to use them.” He also said his son had struggled since he and his wife split and that Colt had been bullied at school. The two exchanged guns together, and the elder Gray showed investigators a cellphone photo of the boy from a recent trip with blood on his cheeks after shooting his first deer. It was “the best day ever,” the father said.

WHAT’S NOT KNOWN: Not much is known about the Grays between the investigator’s May 2023 visit and the shooting. They lived in a neighboring county at the time of the interview, but at some point moved to Winder. Investigative reports indicated that when Colin Gray divorced his wife, two younger children moved with her, but Colt lived with his father. He had recently transferred to Apalachee High School and was missing a lot of classes, fellow students said.

WHAT WE KNOW: Colin Gray, a construction worker, is the first parent of a school shooting suspect to be charged in Georgia, U.S. District Attorney Brad Smith said Friday. But in Michigan, two parents have previously been convicted in a similar case. Gray has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children for knowingly allowing his son to possess a weapon that authorities say was used in the shooting.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW: While authorities say Colin Gray let his son have the assault rifle, it’s not clear how or when the boy got possession of it. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation declined to release additional information due to the ongoing investigation. “The shooter is alive and has been charged, and we are working to prepare a strong case to be pursued through the legal process,” the agency said on its website.