Georgia School Shooter was Investigated by the FBI Over a Year Before for Massacre
Authorities have found documents believed to have been written by Colt Gray, the 14-year-old behind this week’s Georgia high school shooting. The documents revealed that he had planned to shoot up an elementary school a few years before. Even worse, the FBI had Gray on their radar since 2023 for those social media posts, but ended their investigation.
In the documents, which were obtained by CNN, the FBI linked Gray to a Discord account from last year, where he discussed plans for a future mass shooting and shared screenshots of firearms.
According to screenshots from an FBI incident report dated May 2023 and obtained by CNN, the Discord account user stated, “I’m committing a mass shooting and I’m waiting a good 2-3 years.”
The user also said, “I can’t kill myself yet because I’m not contributing anything to culture; I need to go out knowing I did.”
The account mentioned Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, and in other posts, expressed a desire to target an elementary school while voicing frustration with the acceptance of transgender individuals.
The account posted the message, “I’m ready,” above a photo of two firearms.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office ended the investigation after receiving the FBI tip, concluding that the identity of the Discord account user responsible for the threat could not be confirmed.
On Wednesday, a Discord spokesperson told the outlet that the account “believed to be associated with” Gray was removed by the platform in May 2023 due to violating its policy against extremism.
CNN’s source also revealed that Gray had looked into the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
In the 2023 interview, Colin Gray, Colt’s father, told authorities that he had hunting rifles in the house and said that “Colt is allowed to use them when supervised but does not have unfettered access to them,” according to the report. He also told investigators that his son was getting bullied and that he wanted to teach him about guns and safety as a way to get him interested in the outdoors as a way to deter him from video games.
The FBI dropped the investigation, citing that they did not have enough evidence to make an arrest, CBS News reported.
A year later, to open fire at Apalachee High School, killing two teachers, two students and injuring at least nine others Wednesday morning.
Gray was charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult. Colin was arrested and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children after authorities learned that he had purchased the weapon used in the massacre as a Christmas gift for Colt.
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