Father testifies in own trial to defend gun purchase as bonding effort with son accused of school shooting

WINDER, Ga. (CN) — Colin Gray, who is on trial for giving his teen son the assault rifle used to kill four people and injure several others at Apalachee High School, took the stand in his own defense Friday.

“The gun was a thing me and him used to bond with,” Colin Gray said.

He testified he bought the firearm so he and his son, Colt Gray, could hunt together to encourage outdoor activity and reduce screen time. According to his testimony, he also said they spent time golfing and playing guitar.

“Whatever I could do to interact with him away from the computer screen," Colin Gray said.

Prosecutors cited Colt Gray’s months-long absences from middle school, including his entire eighth-grade year, as evidence of his father’s carelessness. Colin Gray attributed the absenteeism to bullying, saying other students threw “shampoo bottles and milk cartons” at his son on the bus.

“It was never, ‘I don’t give a damn if he goes to 8th grade.’ That’s not what happened here,” Colin Gray said.

“Could I have done better? Yes. I could have done more. I see that now,” he added.

Colin Gray suggested his son’s anger issues stemmed largely from conflicts with his mother, Marcee, after their separation. He said he struggled to work full-time while raising three children alone after their mother lost custody and entered a rehabilitation facility following a failed drug test with the Department of Family and Children Services.

Gray said he never viewed his son as a threat, even after police visited their home a year before the shooting in response to an FBI tip about school shooting threats made online that were traced to Colt Gray.

“I’ve never heard anybody say anything to me about school shootings," Colin Gray told jurors regarding his seemingly unshocked response to first learning of the shooting.

Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith questioned why Colin Gray temporarily took away his son’s computer, but not his access to firearms, despite knowing Colt Gray had a history of self-harm, including cutting his wrists at age 13.

Colin Gray, largely inexpressive throughout the trial, began to weep Thursday as jurors watched surveillance footage from inside the school when his son began firing.

Prosecutors also highlighted Gray’s internet searches, including “where to take my troubled teen near Athens, Georgia” and “Where do I take my son for anxiety near Winder, Georgia.”

Despite those concerns, prosecutors said, Colin Gray continued to buy his 14-year-old son additional ammunition and firearm accessories.

According to text messages and phone logs, Colt Gray’s anxiety and mental state began to worsen leading up to the shooting on Sept. 4, 2024.

On Aug. 28, Colt Gray texted his father, “I have to kinda dance around the inconvenient truth at times. I have no control over what these things say and tell me to do,” to which Colin Gray did not respond.

That same morning, Colt Gray texted his mother, Marcee, “There are people after me and I don’t like it, my teachers.. I feel as if they’re plotting against me, somehow I feel like they’ll hurt me.”

The following day, Marcee Gray received another text from her son that said, “It’s just getting worse."

Marcee Gray’s internet search history showed that she then began searching, “school shooter parents charged with manslaughter," “why were Ethan Crumbley’s parents charged?” and information about safe storage gun laws.

The mother testified Monday that she searched for nearby mental health hospitals and made a plan with Colin Gray and Colt to take him to Advantage Behavioral Health in Athens that Saturday.

Phone records show she later spoke with Colin Gray multiple times and texted him asking to meet halfway.

But in an interrogation video shown Wednesday, Colin Gray told investigators he was unaware of any discussions to take Colt in for treatment.

Text messages showed Colin Gray asked his sister to borrow $200, saying he was short on money because he was paying for his son to see a psychologist in Athens.

Prosecutors countered that there are no records of any such payments and said that instead of taking Gray to Advantage Behavioral the week before the shooting, Colin Gray took him to Guitar Center and bought him a hat.

“Me and Boo have been counting down the days for this," Marcee Gray texted the father that day.

Colin Gray faces 29 charges, including second-degree murder, manslaughter, cruelty to children and reckless conduct.

Meanwhile, his now-16-year-old son, who was detained at the scene of the crime, is being prosecuted as an adult and awaiting his own murder trial.

Defense attorneys are not expected to call in any other witnesses, with closing arguments to take place on Monday.

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