Teen pleads guilty to killing four in 2024 U.S. school shooting

July 24 - A Georgia teenager who killed four people and injured nine others in a 2024 school shooting pleaded guilty to all 55 counts in his indictment in court on Friday.

Colt Gray, 16, entered the plea in Barrow County Superior Court without having reached an agreement with prosecutors. The judge, Nicholas Primm, will impose a sentence after hearing from both sides as well as victim statements. Gray faces a maximum penalty of a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Gray, a 14-year-old ninth-grader at the time of the shooting, brought the rifle into Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, a city of 18,000 about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Atlanta, hidden inside a roll of poster board on September 4, 2024.

He killed students Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14, and teachers Cristina Irimie, 53, and Richard Aspinwall, 39, and was charged as an adult in the crime.

Gray’s father, Colin Gray, was found guilty at trial in March of 27 charges, including second-degree murder, for giving his son as a Christmas present the assault-style rifle he later used in the shooting.

In that case, a rare prosecution of a parent in connection with a child’s mass shooting, prosecutors said the elder Gray gave his son the gun despite warning signs, including that he maintained a shrine to school shooters and exhibited violent behavior at home. REUTERS