The teenager who killed two students and two teachers in a 2024 shooting at Georgia's Apalachee High School had a chaotic, lonely upbringing and immersed himself in an online community of people interested in mass shootings, a psychologist testified Monday.Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty Friday to 55 counts, including murder, in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting that also left several others wounded at the school about 45 miles (73 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.He entered the plea without having reached a plea deal with prosecutors. Murder carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, and it is up to Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm to decide whether he will have the possibility of parole after hearing testimony and considering evidence.
The sentencing hearing started Friday, continued Monday and was set to resume Tuesday.Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.Psychologist says Colt Gray had a ‘chaotic’ childhoodA forensic psychologist who evaluated Gray after the shooting at the request of an attorney for the teen testified that during their first meeting in May 2025, Gray asked if he could pull his arms inside his sweatshirt to wrap them around himself.“I thought he was kind of an odd kid," Kevin Richards said. The psychologist said he did four interviews with Gray for a total of about 15 hours and also spoke to Gray's mother twice for a total of about three hours.“It was pretty chaotic,” the psychologist said of Gray's upbringing, noting that the family had financial problems and moved around a lot, so he wasn’t enrolled in school for long stretches.
His parents used drugs and fought a lot, and Gray had a lonely and neglected childhood, Richards testified.Colt Gray discussed school shootings onlineGray talked about fearing that teachers were plotting against him, and that people in public were whispering about him. Richards said that while he believes Gray experienced paranoia and anxiety, he doubts that motivated the attack.“I don’t think he was driven by hallucinations or delusions to do what he did. I think he planned it out,” Richards said.Most of the teen's social life was online, Richards said.
He was a gamer but also became immersed in a communi…
Summary from source