WINDER, Ga. (AP) \u2014 A teenager has pleaded guilty to all 55 counts, including murder, in a shooting nearly two years ago at Apalachee High School in Georgia that killed two students and two teachers.<\/p>\n
Colt Gray, 16, entered the plea Friday without having reached a deal with prosecutors. He had previously pleaded not guilty to charges in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting that also left several others wounded, at the high school about 45 miles (73 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.<\/p>\n
Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was charged as an adult with the 55 total counts, including murder in the four deaths and 25 counts of aggravated assault. His trial had been scheduled to start in mid-October.<\/p>\n
A jury in March convicted<\/a> his father, Colin Gray, on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and he is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Prosecutors said the elder Gray gave his son the assault-style rifle used to open fire at the school.<\/p>\n Teachers Richard \u201cRicky\u201d Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting<\/a>. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire. <\/p>\n The plea<\/p>\n Before accepting the plea, Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm asked Gray a series of questions meant to ensure that the teenager was aware of the consequences of his plea and was entering it voluntarily. To each question, Gray responded, \u201cYes, your honor.\u201d<\/p>\n Because he pleaded guilty to murder, Gray faces a minimum sentence of life in prison. The judge must decide whether he should be eligible for parole after hearing victim statements, evidence and each side\u2019s summary of the case.<\/p>\n Gray sat at a table in the courtroom with his feet chained together next to his attorney. Members of the community, including some victims and family members, were present in the courtroom.<\/p>\n Victim statements<\/p>\n Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son Mason was killed, told the judge she does not forgive Colt Gray. She said that while adults around him missed multiple warning signs, he was the one who decided to bring a gun to school and to pull the trigger.<\/p>\n \u201cThose decisions were his and his alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She described her son as someone who \u201cmade people that were typically unseen feel seen, accepted and safe\u201d and said she was confident he would have befriended Colt Gray if he\u2019d had the chance.<\/p>\n \u201cMason deserved a future and we all deserved a future with Mason in it, and Colt took that from Mason and everyone who loved him,\u201d she said. She and two of Mason\u2019s sisters asked the judge for a sentence of life without parole.<\/p>\n Shayna Aspinwall, Richard Aspinwall\u2019s wife, told the judge the \u201cgrief of losing him is constant\u201d and lamented that the lives of their daughters, who were 2 and 5 when their father died, will be \u201cforever marked by his absence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a life sentence of grief and trauma for those left behind,\u201d she said. She asked the judge to sentence Colt Gray to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying she didn\u2019t want herself and her daughters to have to endure multiple parole hearings.<\/p>\n