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Georgia school shooting suspect investigated for possible interest in Sandy Hook, Parkland massacres
By Mollie Markowitz Fox News
Published September 10, 2024 4:00am EDT
Authorities are investigating a possible link between Apalachee High School mass shooting suspect Colt Gray and a social media account inspired by the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, as investigators reportedly learned recently he had writings in his room referencing the 2018 Parkland High School massacre.
Gray allegedly made shooting threats in the past on messaging app Discord, according to new audio obtained by Fox News from a 2023 visit authorities made to his home and a recently surfaced police report.
The Jackson County report discloses that the FBI received several tips from users with internet addresses in Palmdale, Calif., Los Angeles and Cockburn, a city in Western Australia, which included the "comments to shoot up a school" made on Discord.
The officer noted in his report that the email associated with the Discord account may have belonged to Gray, the teen accused of killing four people and wounding nine others at his school on Wednesday, according to the FBI's "open source query."
Law enforcement investigated the online threat and noted that the user profile name was written in Russian and translates to the name Lanza, referring to Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, who fatally shot 20 first-grade students and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
The audio from the May 2023 interview with the Georgia suspect and his father, Colin Gray, paints a detailed picture of the investigation at the time.
Both father and son told police they did not speak Russian, and the then-13-year-old denied that he had been the author of the threats. The teen also said that he deleted his Discord account due to it being hacked and that he had never made any comments about shooting up a school.
The officer noted in his report that the teen appeared "calm and reserved" while police spoke with him.
"I'm a little taken back by the whole thing, but I can tell you this, I take that very serious and so does he, as a matter of fact," the elder Gray told police at the time, according to the obtained audio.
Police soon determined they needed to take no further action.
"Due to the inconsistent nature of the information received by the FBI," an investigator wrote, "the allegation that Colt or Colin is the user behind the Discord account that made the threat cannot be substantiated."
Authorities also found documents in the teen's bedroom that they believe he wrote, which included references to the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre that left 17 dead in Parkland, Florida, according to a report by CNN.
While the suspect's motive remains unclear, Colin Gray discussed his son's struggle with mental health at school and at home.
"He's going through a lot ... very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on," the elder Gray said to authorities while they were investigating the online threats, according to the audio.
The teen's parents were divorced, and his father had custody of him.
"He struggled at first with the separation," the teen's father told police. "I've been taking him to school."
Colt's childhood was unstable, with the young teen moving to at least three rental homes in a short time, according to Fox Digital's latest reporting.
Police said Colin Gray knowingly allowed his son to possess a weapon.
"He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do and how to use them and not use them," the father told police in the recording.
Colt Gray, 14, has been charged with four counts of felony murder and more charges are expected.
Colin Gray, 54, was also arrested and is being charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.
The public defender representing both Colin and Colt Gray did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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