BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Jurors in the trial for Colin Gray have now seen the accused Apalachee High School shooter inside his classroom, hiding his gun in plain sight.
Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco was in the courtroom on Monday for the first day of the trial against the suspected shooter’s father.
Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith told jurors Colin Gray bought his son a semi-automatic rifle, even though he knew he could cause harm.
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“When Colt was in seventh grade, the FBI accused Colt of threatening to shoot up an elementary school,” said Smith.
Smith said that incident was in Jackson County.
Seven months later, prosecutors said the father bought his son the gun.
“He allows Colt to keep this rifle propped up in Colt’s room,” Smith told jurors during his opening statement.
Smith said the father knew his son was violent, threatened a school shooting and built a shrine to a convicted school shooter that was on his bedroom wall.
“He blurts out, ‘I knew it,’” Smith said was Colin Gray’s reaction when deputies showed up at his home after the Apalachee High School shooting.
“That is not proof he was negligent. That is not proof he knew what was in Colt’s heart,” defense attorney Brian Hobbs argued.
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During day one of the trial, prosecutors called three teachers who survived the shooting to the witness stand.
They described seeing the shooter and saving students.
Sheriff Judd Smith testified about calming a student who had been shot and informing families that their loved ones did not make it.
“We knew we had four people brutally murdered,” the sheriff said, holding back tears.
Jurors ended their day hearing from a mom whose daughter was shot. She described how it has changed her child’s physical and mental health.
“She was angry that she couldn’t do anything for Mason [Schermerhorn] and Christian [Angulo], and she felt like it was not fair she was here and they weren’t,” said Jackelyn Garcia.
Testimony will continue on Tuesday morning.
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