The first photo of Colt Gray, accused of school shooting in Georgia, has surfaced. His aunt said the 14-year-old was “begging for help” before the shooting.
The image released by 11 Alive News shows a smiling Gray wearing a thick necklace and a red Georgia Bulldogs T-shirt in a 2022 yearbook photo showing the suspected shooter at age 12 or 13.
Gray was taken into custody Wednesday, minutes after he opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, killing two classmates and two teachers, authorities said.
Nine others were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
His aunt, Annie Brown, told the Washington Post on Thursday that the boy was “begging everyone around him for help.”
She said he had been struggling with mental health issues even before the shooting.
“The adults around him have let him down,” she lamented.
Brown, who lives in Florida, declined to comment further on her nephew’s mental health issues but said she has tried to help him from a distance.
She added that the boy’s problems were made worse by difficult conditions at home.
The tragic shooting at the high school in Georgia: This is what is known so far
Brown had enrolled Gray in Haymon-Morris Middle School in Barrow County in January so he could finish eighth grade after a period of absence from school, she told The Washington Post.
He was in ninth grade at Apalachee when classes resumed on August 1, just over a month before the shooting.
The teenager was investigated by the FBI in May 2023 for online threats of school shootings, including posts with photos of weapons, the agency said Wednesday.
Gray, then 13, and his father were questioned by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
