Apalachee High School shooting took less than a minute

5 min readSep 25, 2024

In the weeks following the shooting, there hasn’t been a single day without school shooting threats emerging across various parts of the country. Sadly, it’s become typical to expect threats in the aftermath of a major school shooting. However, in my 25 years of writing, I’ve never seen this many threats or experienced a wave lasting this long. I’m not sure what sets this shooting apart from others, but it’s unlike anything I’ve encountered before.

Not long after he was arrested for his alleged role in the Apalachee High School shooting, 54-year-old Colin Gray requested protection while in jail awaiting trial. Gray’s attorneys have stated that he’s received an “incalculable number of threats” behind bars.

If you’ll recall, Gray has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter after allegedly purchasing the ‘AR-platform-style weapon’ used in the shooting as a Christmas gift for his son. He is currently being held without bond.

While I don’t condone sending threats to anyone, that tends to happen when you give your 14-year-old a military grade weapon that he uses to kill four people.

I say give him the protection. I want to see him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and that requires him making it to trial.

In the days leading up to the shooting, school officials had already expressed concern about Colt Gray’s behavior. According to his mother, the school reported that the 14-year-old had been making references to school shootings.

She also mentioned to the media that she was seeking inpatient psychiatric treatment for Colt, and he had agreed to it. As someone who grew up with a dad who wanted me to ‘toughen up’, I can imagine a scenario where Colin Gray might have thought to himself, “No son of mine is going to see no pansy-ass psychologist. All he needs is an ‘AR-platform-style weapon’ in his hands. Killin’ some deer with a military rifle will set his ass straight.”

I can’t believe I’d see the day when I would be thankful that my dad only pressured me to get into sports, yet here we are.

Both Grays are expected to appear in court on December 24, 2004. Neither Gray has yet to enter a plea.

One of the surviving victims has filed a no contact order against both Grays.

Colt Gray has been charged as an adult and is looking at a sentence of life without parole on four charges of felony murder. Meanwhile, Colin Gray is looking at a possible sentence of 180-years.

Turning back to Colt Gray’s mother, she may not be the concerned parent she portrays herself as. You might recall her as the woman who warned the school about her son and issued an apology to the victims, insisting that her son was not a monster.

Recently, the 43-year-old woman was indicted on charges of exploiting and intimidating a disabled or elderly person, false imprisonment, criminal damage to property, and theft. She faces up to 20 years in prison for elder exploitation. The case involves an incident where Gray allegedly tied her 73-year-old mother to a chair for nearly a day, took her phone, and damaged her home after her mother refused to accompany her to confront her ex-husband. Days later, Gray was arrested for concealing her vehicle with false tags and possessing fentanyl, methamphetamine, and muscle relaxants.

Some 2nd Amendment zealots will try to tell you school shootings are caused by divorced families where the shooter lived with their mother. It’s a theory they pulled out of their collective asses and has no merit, but I’ll play along. Here’s a teenager who had the male influence in his life that so many right-wing pundits say the boy needs. And what did that male influence do? He literally put the gun in the boy’s hands that was used to kill four people.

Say what you will about his mother, but at least she’s not sitting in jail on murder and manslaughter charges while staring down the end of a 180-year sentence.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, 14-year-old Colt Gray brought the ‘AR-platform-style weapon’ to school in his backpack. Since the gun couldn’t be broken down, Gray is said to have obscured the part of the gun that stuck out of his backpack by having something wrapped around it as if it were part of a school project, according to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.

On the morning of the shooting, Gray asked his teacher for permission to go to the front office to speak with an unidentified individual. The teacher allowed him to leave with his belongings.

Gray then went to the bathroom, where he hid from teachers before retrieving the rifle and opening fire. It’s also been reported that Gray was armed with a knife.

When Sheriff Smith was asked why officers didn’t shoot Gray, he responded with…

Gray had “committed to putting the gun down and laying out in the prone position, as he was told to do.”

It probably didn’t hurt that the shooter is white.

Speaking of Sheriff Smith, he gave an interview a week after the shooting where he said the shooting itself only took 52 seconds.

Think about that for a moment. In under a minute, an untrained 14-year-old managed to fire enough rounds to kill two teachers and two students, while seriously injuring nine others.

That’s the kind of destruction that can typically be wrought with a semi-automatic ‘AR-platform-style weapon’ that typically holds 30 rounds while firing at a rate of 45 to 60 rounds per minute. The rounds are designed to inflict maximum internal damage on a human target. That’s supposed to take place on a battlefield, not a high school hallway. Again, no civilian needs an ‘AR-platform-style weapon’.

(Sources)

Apalachee High School shooting took less than a minute

Written by Trench Reynolds

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