(Ken Silva, Headline USA) More details are pouring out about 14-year-old Apalachee High School Shooter Colt Gray, including that he was allegedly bullied for being gay, that he “expressed frustration with the acceptance of transgender people,” and that he struggled with mental health issues.
Gray faces life in prison for killing four people—two fellow students and two teachers—and injuring at least nine others on Wednesday. His father, Colin Gray, has also arrested for allowing his son to have a weapon.
Shortly after his shooting spree, it was revealed that Gray had been on the FBI’s radar over shooting threats he allegedly made on the gaming platform Discord.
According to a Friday report from CNN, Gray’s Discord posts “shared a desire to target an elementary school and expressed frustration with the acceptance of transgender people.”
“im committing a mass shooting and im waiting a good 2-3 years,” stated the account user, according to CNN, which screenshots it obtained from an FBI incident report about Gray’s threats. “I cant kill myself yet, cause I’m not contributing anything to culture I need to go out knowing I did.”
🤔 https://t.co/5glul3C46j pic.twitter.com/wd4oEEofQD
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) September 5, 2024
A Discord spokesperson reportedly told CNN on Wednesday the platform removed an account believed to be associated with Gray in May 2023 for violating Discord’s policy against extremism.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail also reported Friday that Gray was bullied in being in school for being gay. That information reportedly comes from the interview local law enforcement conducted with the father, Colin, after the FBI flagged Colt’s threats on Discord last year.
“It was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on,” Colin Gray told an investigator, according to a transcript of the conversation reportedly obtained by the Daily Mail. “It went from one thing to another… I was trying to get him on the golf team… [they were like] Oh, look, Colt’s gay. He’s dating that guy. Just ridiculed him day after day after day.”
Finally, a Washington Post article on Friday reported that Gray had been “begging for months” for mental health help before he went on his shooting spree.
Gray “was begging for help from everybody around him,” the teenager’s aunt, Annie Brown, told The Post. “The adults around him failed him.”
The Gray cases will be presented to a grand jury, which has its next scheduled meeting Oct. 17. Grand jury proceedings are not open to the public or news media. If the grand jury issues indictments for Colt and Colin Gray, they will then be scheduled for arraignment. Colt Gray faces another hearing on Dec. 4.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
