Colt Gray pleads guilty in Georgia’s Apalachee High School shooting

A 16-year-old boy accused of killing two students and two teachers during a 2024 shooting rampage at Georgia’s Apalachee High School faced life in prison after pleading guilty Friday.

Colt Gray, who previously pleaded not guilty last October, entered the new plea Friday after failing to reach an agreement with prosecutors. Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was charged as an adult with a total of 55 felonies, including murder in four deaths and 25 counts of aggravated assault. His trial was scheduled to begin in mid-October.

Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall (39) and Cristina Irimie (53) and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo (both 14) were killed in a shooting in Barrow County, about 72 kilometers northeast of Atlanta, in September 2024. Another teacher and eight students were injured; Seven of them were injured as a result of gunfire.

Shayna Aspinwall, Richard Aspinwall’s wife, told the judge Friday that the “pain of losing him is constant” and lamented that the lives of her daughters, who were 2 and 5 when their father died, “will forever be marked by his absence.”

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Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son Mason was killed, told the judge she does not forgive Colt Gray. He said the adults around him missed multiple warning signs, but he was the one who decided to bring a gun to school and pull the trigger.

“Those decisions were his alone,” he said.

She described her son as someone who “makes people who aren’t typically seen feel seen, accepted, and safe” and said she was sure he would be friends with Colt Gray if he had the chance.

“Mason deserved a future, and we all deserved a future with Mason, and Colt got that from Mason and everyone who loved him,” he said. She and Mason’s two sisters asked the judge for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Before accepting the plea, Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm asked Gray a series of questions intended to ensure the teen was aware of the consequences of his plea and willingly participated in it. Gray answered “Yes, your honor” to each question.

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Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, 16, stands next to his attorney Charlton Allen and pleads guilty in Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, Ga., on Friday, July 24, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Magazine-Constitution via AP)

Gray faces a minimum sentence of life in prison for pleading guilty to murder, according to the Associated Press. The judge must decide whether the victim is eligible for parole after hearing statements, evidence, and both parties’ summaries of the case.

Gray was sitting at a table in the courtroom next to his lawyer, his feet chained together. Community members, including some victims and family members, were present in the courtroom.

A jury in March found her father, Colin Gray, guilty of charges including second-degree murder and manslaughter, and he is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

Prosecutors successfully argued that Colin Gray gave his son the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack as a Christmas present and continued to buy him ammunition even though he was aware of his declining mental health and was aware that law enforcement had previously threatened a school shooting.

Colin Gray looks down and to the side as the guilty verdict is read in Barrow County Superior Court on March 3, 2026. Gray was later handcuffed and escorted from the courtroom after being convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter. (WAGA)

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Despite those concerns, Gray’s son did not receive inpatient treatment, the prosecution told jurors.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.