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The father of Colt Gray, the 14-year-old accused of fatally shooting two students and two teachers at a school in Georgia, has claimed that his son was frequently bullied and ridiculed by classmates. According to the father, Collin Gray, his son was often called "gay" and subjected to other homophobic slurs.
Colt Gray has been charged as an adult with four counts of murder, while his father faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of second-degree murder for allegedly providing a weapon to his son.
According to a newly released transcript of his 2023 police interrogation, Collin said during the investigation, "Colt's gone through a lot".
"[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," Collin was quoted as saying by Fox News.
The father continued, “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".
“I don’t want him to fight anybody, but they just keep like pinching him and touching him, and that’s a whole different deal... And it’s just escalated to point where like his finals were last week and that was a lasting on his mind," he added.
Collin was questioned in May 2023 by officials in connection with online threats about carrying out a school shooting made on the gaming social media platform Discord, news agency Reuters reported.
On September 4, Colt used a semi-automatic rifle to carry out an attack at Apalachee High School, in which two teachers and two 14-year-old students were killed. Authorities allege that Collin knowingly allowed his son access to firearms in their home prior to the shooting.
Meanwhile, a relative of the Grays said that Colt’s mother had called the school before the killings, warning staff of an “extreme emergency” involving her son.
