Connect with us

Georgia

Georgia teen school shooting suspect lived in series of rental homes as emerging details shed light on family

Published

on

Georgia teen school shooting suspect lived in series of rental homes as emerging details shed light on family


A timeline of where the 14-year-old Georgia high school student lived in a short period of time sheds light on his tumultuous home life.

Colt Gray, 14, and his father, Colin Gray, 54, are charged in the killings of two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Barrow County. Nine others were hurt, with seven of the injured shot.

The teen’s childhood was unstable, with the young teen moving to at least three rental homes in a short period of time.

According to the teen’s father, in recently released police interrogation transcripts, “[Colt’s] gone through a lot,” with Colin Gray saying that the teen wanted a “simple life.”

Advertisement

ALLEGED GEORGIA SHOOTER’S FATHER SAID SON WAS BULLIED AT SCHOOL, CALLED ‘GAY’ BY CLASSMATES: ‘VERY DIFFICULT’

Jefferson, Georgia Homes:

The Grays lived in two rental properties in Jefferson, Georgia – a small town with approximately 15,000 people.

The family lived in one rental property, with the current tenant telling police that the family had been evicted in May 2022, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

The subsequent divorce between Colin and Marcee Gray separated the family of five. Colt went to live with his father, while the two younger siblings initially lived with their mother. 

Apalachee school shooter Colt Gray and his father Colin Gray’s former neighborhood in Jefferson, Georgia. Saturday, September 7, 2024.  (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)

Advertisement

Following the divorce, Colin and Colt Gray rented another single family home in a subdivision in the town.

Neighbors told Fox News Digital that they lived there only for a “couple of months” before leaving.

Apalachee school shooter suspect Colt Gray and his father Colin Gray’s former home in Jefferson, Georgia. Saturday, September 7, 2024. The pair rented the home. (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)

The Jefferson rental home was where police interviewed Colt and Colin after the teen, in May 2023, had allegedly made violent threats to shoot up the middle school.

In interview transcripts, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Colin Gray is heard telling investigators that his son struggled with his parent’s divorce.

Advertisement

The father said that his son “had some problems” at his previous middle school, West Jackson Middle School, but it had “gotten a lot better” since he changed schools to Jefferson Middle School. The previous middle school was approximately 70 miles north of Jefferson, Georgia.

WHO IS THE ALLEGED GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTER? WHAT WE KNOW

Interview transcripts, taken by Investigator Dan Miller in 2023, cast the teen as someone who had been picked on and “ridiculed” by classmates.

“[Colt] just wants us to have a simple life. All that like, he should be excited about getting into 8th grade. It just was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on by, you know, it went from one thing to another to, you know, he was talking to the couple friends he has,” said Gray.

“I was trying to get him on the golf team … like, ‘Oh look Colt’s gay. He’s dating that guy.’ Just ridiculed him day after day after day.”

Advertisement

General view of the home of alleged Apalachee school shooter Colt Gray and his father Colin Gray on Harrison Mill Road in Winder. Friday, September 6, 2024. (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)

Winder, Georgia Home:

By Nov. 2023, Colin and Colt had moved to a new rental property in Winder, Georgia. The Winder address is where the teen boy resided prior to his arrest following the school massacre on Wednesday.

The home is where Colt’s mother went and vandalized her ex-husband’s truck in Nov. 2023 in a violent rampage that resulted in prison time.

According to court documents, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Marcee Anne Gray, came to the Winder, Georgia rental property and scratched two words into her ex’s truck, which was owned by the construction company he worked for.

The damages cost approximately $3,000 to fix, court documents said.

Advertisement

Marcee Anne Gray in a 2023 booking photo from the Ben Hill County Sheriff’s Office. (Ben Hill County Sheriff Office)

A subsequent search of the mother’s vehicle resulted in a slew of charges after authorities found illicit drugs hidden inside.

The arrest warrant states that Gray had a glass jar containing methamphetamine, a “baggie” containing fentanyl, another “baggie” containing multiple muscle relaxants, and a glass pipe “used for the ingestion of narcotics.” 

GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING: NEW AUDIO OF ALLEGED SHOOTER, FATHER ENCOUNTER WITH POLICE OVER 2023 ONLINE THREATS

The warrant notes that she concealed the identity of her Nissan Rogue vehicle by affixing a tag for a Nissan Kick.

Advertisement

In December 2023, Marcee Gray was charged and pleaded guilty to single counts of using a license plate to conceal identity, criminal damage to property in the second degree and criminal trespass/family violence. 

Marcee Gray was prosecuted under Georgia’s First Offender Act, which allows eligible defendants to plead guilty without being convicted. Under the state’s First Offender Act, Gray served the first 46 days in confinement in jail, rather than the full 5 years of her sentence.

For the remainder of the sentence, she was on probation.

Under probation, documents show that Gray was prohibited from having any contact with her husband, Colin Gray, except through a third party for matters concerning their shared children.

Timeline of Mass Shooting

The shooting was first reported at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The sheriff’s office received an alert of reports of an active shooter at 10:20 a.m.

Advertisement

GBI director Chris Hosey said law enforcement was at the scene “within minutes.”

“Law enforcement had a very, very swift response to this incident,” Hosey previously said.

Officers located Colt Gray swiftly, with the teen suspect being taken into custody.

The 14-year-old is being tried as an adult and is being charged with four counts of murder. He is accused of using a semiautomatic AR-style rifle to kill two fellow students and two teachers.

Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga.  (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Advertisement

His father, Colin Gray, faces related charges in the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“You don’t have to have been physically injured in this to be a victim,” District Attorney Brad Smith told reporters on Friday. “Everyone in this community is a victim. Every child in that school was a victim.”

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.

Advertisement





Source link

Georgia

Georgia sample ballot for the 2026 primary elections shows every race to vote on this year

Published

on

Georgia sample ballot for the 2026 primary elections shows every race to vote on this year


After months of campaigning, the 2026 primary elections in Georgia are on Tuesday, with hundreds of contests for statewide and local office taking place across the Peach State.

Voters in every precinct will have a distinct ballot, depending on what races are in play where they live.

With the number of candidates and hotly contested races up for grabs this year, many voters have said the primary ballot is one of the longest they’ve seen.

How to tell which races will be on your local Georgia ballot 

So how do you know what races will be on your ballot before you head to your local polling place? It’s easier than you might think.

Advertisement

One way is to use the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page. Once logged in with your name, county, and date of birth, you can click a link to see your sample ballot and update your voter information. You can also see where you can cast your vote and your voter registration info.

You can also check your county election department, which will have links to see the Democratic, nonpartisan, and Republican sample ballots.

Statewide races will be on every voter’s ballot, like the primaries for governor, lieutenant governor, and U.S. senator. Most other races are dependent on the county or legislative district.

The different races included in the Georgia primary election

  • U.S. Senate
  • U.S. House of Representatives
  • Governor
  • Lieutenant Governor
  • Secretary of State
  • Attorney General
  • Commissioner of Agriculture
  • Commissioner of Insurance
  • State School Superintendent
  • Commissioner of Labor
  • Public Service Commissioner District 3 and 5
  • State Senate
  • State House
  • Countywide officers
  • Georgia Supreme Court (two seats)
  • State and county courts

Georgia U.S. Senate primaries

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is running unopposed and will face one of five challengers aiming to bring the seat back into Republican hands: Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter, Rep. Mike Collins, John F. Coyne III, Derek Dooley, and Jonathan “Jon” McColumn.

Georgia Congressional primaries

All 14 of Georgia’s U.S. House districts are on the ballot this year. Here are some of the metro Atlanta races CBS News Atlanta will be watching closely.

Primaries for Georgia governor

Primaries for Georgia lieutenant governor

  • Democratic primary for Georgia lieutenant governor
  • Republican primary for Georgia lieutenant governor

Primaries for Georgia secretary of state

  • Democratic primary for Georgia secretary of state
  • Republican primary for Georgia secretary of state

Primaries for Georgia attorney general

  • Democratic primary for Georgia attorney general
  • Republican primary for Georgia attorney general

Other statewide primaries in Georgia

Here are some other contested statewide primaries we are watching:

  • Democratic primary for Georgia insurance commissioner
  • Democratic primary for Georgia agriculture commissioner
  • Republican primary for Georgia state school superintendent
  • Democratic primary for Georgia state school superintendent
  • Democratic primary for Georgia labor commissioner
  • Republican primary for Georgia Public Service commissioner Districts 3 and 5
  • Democratic primary for Georgia Public Service commissioner Districts 3 and 5

Georgia State Senate and State House primaries

All 56 of the Georgia State Senate districts and all 180 seats of the Georgia State House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. 

Primaries for Georgia courts

Primaries for both statewide and county courts are on the ballot this year. These elections are nonpartisan and all candidates will appear on both ballots

Advertisement
  • Three Georgia Supreme Court judges
  • Five Court of Appeals judges
  • County superior court judges
  • State court judges

Political party ballot questions

Both the Georgia Republican and Democratic parties include ballot questions in their primary elections. The questions are non-binding, but advise the parties on what to include in their platforms. This year, the Republicans have eight questions and the Democrats have two.

As an example, Question 1 on the Republican ballot asks: “Should Georgia enact the strongest election integrity measures possible, which may include hand marked paper ballots, fines for counties that refuse to maintain current voter rolls, and restrictions on no-excuse absentee voting to restore trust in elections?”

Question 1 on the Democratic ballot asks: “Should the State of Georgia raise the sales tax on everyday items like clothing, food, and school supplies to pay for an income tax cut that would make millionaires and billionaires richer?”

Voters mark yes or no on each question. 



Source link

Continue Reading

Georgia

Georgia woman works through injuries as health insurance costs soar

Published

on

Georgia woman works through injuries as health insurance costs soar


This story is available through The Current GA.  Carry Smith yawned as she fastened the driver’s side seat belt in her 2002 Toyota Sequoia. On a Sunday in early May, Smith headed to one of her four part-time jobs in Chatham County, part of her seven-day work week. Two years earlier, Smith suffered life-threatening injuries […]



Source link

Continue Reading

Georgia

Georgia Power proposal comes as summer cooling costs are expected to rise

Published

on

Georgia Power proposal comes as summer cooling costs are expected to rise



As temperatures rise across Georgia, cooling costs are also expected to climb this summer. The Georgia Public Service Commission is set to hear one of Georgia Power’s proposed agreements aimed at saving customers money on their power bills.

Georgia Power says its proposed agreements could save the typical customer about $4 a month if approved by the commission.

The proposals involve two separate cases before the PSC. One focuses on fuel costs used to operate power plants, while the second deals with storm recovery costs tied to Hurricane Helene.

Advertisement

Georgia Power and the PSC’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff recently reached agreements in both cases. If approved, the company says the typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month could save about $4.04 per month or nearly $50 per year beginning in June.

The proposal comes as a new national report from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association and the Center for Energy Poverty and Climate projects cooling costs could rise about 8.5% nationwide this year. The report says hotter temperatures and increased energy demand are helping drive costs higher.

Reliable Heating and Air said it is already seeing an increase in service calls across metro Atlanta as more people start using their air conditioning systems.

HVAC experts said homeowners should watch for warning signs, including strange noises, weak airflow, homes cooling slowly or higher-than-normal power bills. 

“Biggest mistake they make is not getting a system maintenance,” said Joshua Kelly with Reliable Heating and Air. “A lot of people feel like, ‘Oh no, I don’t have to get maintenance,’ but you most definitely do.”

Advertisement

Experts recommend changing air filters regularly, scheduling maintenance checks, keeping thermostats between 74 and 77 degrees on hot days and addressing airflow problems early.

Resources for Georgia families needing help with cooling costs:

  • Georgia LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) — Helps eligible low-income households pay heating and cooling bills and may assist during energy emergencies.
  • United Way 211 — Connects families with local resources, including utility assistance programs, emergency financial help and community services.
  • Partnership for Community Action — Offers utility assistance, energy support programs and other services for eligible families in metro Atlanta.
  • Local Community Action Agencies — Many agencies across Georgia provide emergency utility assistance, payment support and additional family resources during extreme heat and high energy demand periods.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending