Colt Gray, the teenager who killed four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, pleaded guilty Friday, July 24, to all 55 charges stemming from the deadliest school shooting in state history. The plea closes one chapter in a case that intensified school safety debates across Georgia, including in north Fulton County, where Fulton County Schools is preparing to open the 2026-2027 school year.
Gray, now 16, entered a non-negotiated plea — meaning no deal with prosecutors on sentencing — to four counts of malice murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and other charges. The September 4, 2024, attack killed students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Richard "Ricky" Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Nine others were wounded.
Gray faces a minimum of life in prison with the possibility of parole. The sentencing hearing was adjourned Friday and resumes Tuesday, July 28. The judge will decide whether Gray, who was 14 at the time of the attack and charged as an adult, will ever be eligible for release.
"Those decisions were his and his alone," Breanna Schermerhorn, mother of victim Mason Schermerhorn, said in a victim impact statement at Friday's hearing.
School safety measures in north Fulton
More than 40 Milton Police Department officers and Milton Fire-Rescue personnel ran a two-day active shooter training at King's Ridge Christian School on June 16-17, combining classroom instruction with force-on-force scenarios using non-lethal Simunition training rounds.
Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1185) requires every public school to maintain a comprehensive safety plan. The Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency coordinates those plans for all Fulton County public schools, including Alpharetta High, Milton High, and Cambridge High, and offers training in behavioral threat assessment, active shooter response, de-escalation, and weapons screening.
The district's Capital Plan 2032, a $1.319 billion spending blueprint approved in June 2026, includes safety and security investments, though amounts are not broken out by school. Previous capital plans funded camera upgrades, visitor management systems, and police equipment.
State legislation advancing
A bill sponsored by House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, a Republican who represents the Apalachee campus, would require weapons detection systems in every Georgia public school. As of late March, the bill had cleared a Senate committee but had not received a final floor vote in either chamber. House budget writers proposed an additional $50 million in grants to help districts install the systems.
Apalachee High junior Daria Lezczynska testified in support of the bill at a March legislative hearing: "That rifle would have never reached our hallways. Lives would have been saved."
What's next
Gray's father, Colin Gray, was convicted in March 2026 on 27 counts including second-degree murder for buying his son the rifle used in the attack. Colin Gray's sentencing is scheduled for Thursday, July 30. Colt Gray's sentencing hearing resumes Tuesday, July 28.
