5 things to know about Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray

4. Colt Gray previously investigated for threatening to carry out school shooting

Barrow County Sheriff Judd Smith called the shooting “pure evil.” A statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Atlanta Division said in May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and the threats included photographs of guns.  

The then-13-year-old boy was interviewed along with his father who told officials that he had hunting guns in his house, but his son didn't have unsupervised access to them. Colt Gray, who wasn't identified by name in the statement, also denied making the threats and no charges were filed in that investigation.

“A thorough investigation was conducted,” Jackson Sheriff Janis Mangum said in a statement Wednesday on the investigation. “During the course of this investigation, the gaming site threats could not be substantiated.”