Jury convicts suspected Georgia school shooter’s father of murder
Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, sits in the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on September 6, 2024, in Winder, Georgia. (Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — A Georgia jury found Colin Gray guilty Tuesday on charges including second-degree murder and manslaughter, stemming from a 2024 mass shooting allegedly committed by his teenage son with a rifle he gifted him as a Christmas present.
The jury found the 55-year-old Gray guilty of 27 counts. Two other counts were dropped. The jury deliberated fewer than two hours before returning their verdicts.
Colin Gray was charged with multiple counts of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and cruelty to children. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Gray’s son, Colt Gray, now 16, allegedly killed two students and two teachers and injured eight students in a Sept. 4, 2024, mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Colt Gray has been charged as an adult and is awaiting a separate trial on multiple counts of felony murder and aggravated assault. He has pleaded not guilty.
During the two-week trial, Barrow County prosecutors presented evidence that Colin Gray had been warned that his son had an affinity for mass shooters and was aware that Colt kept a shrine in his bedroom dedicated to the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Instead of getting his son psychological help, Colin Gray allegedly gave the boy an AR-15-style weapon as a Christmas present that he ultimately used to carry out the mass shooting at Apalachee High School, prosecutors alleged.
On Friday, Colin Gray took the witness stand in his own defense and broke down while being questioned about whether he noticed any “red flags” that would have led him to believe the boy was capable of committing a mass shooting.
“I struggle with it every day,” Colin Gray testified. “He’s a good kid, you know? He wasn’t perfect, but to do something, uh, that heinous, like I don’t, I don’t know if anybody would see that type of evil.”
During his testimony, Gray confirmed that he gave his son the AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present, telling jurors the gift came with rules.
“This is a weapon that I want you to shoot when we go to the range, and if you keep doing really good in school, going to school and doing all the things you should, you graduate and you’re 18, this will be your gun,” Colin Gray said he told his son.
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — The Uvalde, Texas, gunman fired 117 rounds in two Robb Elementary School classrooms during a two-minute period before school police officer Adrian Gonzales entered the building, a Texas Ranger told jurors on Friday.
Ranger Nick Hill testified that Gonzales had a window of one minute and four seconds after he parked his car before gunman Salvador Ramos entered the school. Gonzales took three minutes and 53 seconds to enter Robb Elementary after parking his car, Hill said.
Hill said Gonzales parked at 11:31:55 a.m. and radioed in the active shooter report at 11:32:09 a.m.
Ramos entered the west side of Robb Elementary at 11:32:59 a.m., and, after firing 21 shots in a hallway, he entered the first of two classrooms at 11:33:45 a.m. Gonzales entered the south door of Robb Elementary at 11:35:48 a.m., Hill said.
In total, Ramos fired 173 shots during the massacre, while law enforcement discharged 25 rounds, Hill said. Ramos killed 19 students and two teachers.
Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students. Prosecutors allege Gonzales not only failed when he arrived at the scene, but also when he got into the school because he retreated after two other officers were hit by gunfire.
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. The defense argued Gonzales did everything he could, including calling in the shooting and attempting to enter the school.
American travelers in the Middle East like Shekinah Lee are speaking out. Lee spoke with ABC News via video. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — American travelers are sharing their stories of being stranded in the Middle East after the joint U.S.-Israel attack against Iran triggered retaliatory strikes, impacting at least 11 countries in the region.
President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Saturday, with strikes targeting military and government sites. Iran has since responded with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases in Gulf nations and American diplomatic facilities.
Shekinah Lee, who lives in Chicago, told ABC News she and her boyfriend had been traveling in the United Arab Emirates and are now trying to return home.
“I’m anxious, I’m scared, and I’m desperate to get home,” Lee said Tuesday morning.
According to Lee, she hasn’t been able to get any answers from her airline about flights back to the U.S.
“We’re not getting any support from our airline. We’ve been trying to get in contact with them but due to the volume of the situation, they’re not able to field calls, so none of our questions are getting answered,” Lee said.
In a statement Tuesday on social media, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said the agency is in touch with thousands of Americans abroad and working to secure flights to help.
“Yes, the State Department is actively securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East,” Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, wrote on X in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ve been in direct contact with nearly 3,000 Americans abroad. American citizens should call [the State Department] for assistance with departure options.”
The State Department also issued instructions for travelers abroad on its own social media account Monday, urging Americans to contact the State Department.
While Lee and her boyfriend wait for a flight out of Dubai, she said they had to stay overnight in their hotel parking garage until they could find further accommodation.
“The parking garage was packed with families from all over the world, just desperate to know what’s going on,” Lee said. “Right now, our priority is getting a flight out of here.”
American citizen Alyssa Ramos is using social media to document her struggles returning to the U.S. Ramos shared on Instagram that she and a group of friends paid $1,200 for a nearly eight-hour journey over the land border from Kuwait City to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, Ramos said in an Instagram story that her plane from Riyadh never left the airport.
“I’ve never been more happy and also more scared to be on a plane,” Ramos wrote in part. “There were attacks here in Riyadh earlier today and they usually strike more at night … please keep sending your positive energy and protective thoughts.”
The State Department is urging Americans to exercise caution worldwide “following the launch of U.S. combat operations in Iran.”
“Americans worldwide and especially in the Middle East should follow the guidance in the latest security alerts issued by the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. They may experience travel disruptions due to periodic airspace closures,” the department advised.
For the United Arab Emirates, the State Department has set a level 3 travel advisory, ordered the “departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of government personnel on March 2,” and is advising Americans to reconsider travel to the country “due to the threat of armed conflict and terrorism.”
The State Department has similar warnings for Americans in at least five other Middle Eastern countries.
In Beirut, Lebanon, drone strikes have been continuing in the capital city, according to Samer Bawab, an American citizen living in the city.
“I haven’t been able to sleep very well within the last three days, only a few hours per night,” Bawab told ABC News. “That’s because we’re getting awoken in the middle of the night sometimes by loud explosions and being caught off guard.”
Former Team USA basketball player Destiny Littleton said in an interview that aired Monday on “Good Morning America” that she is in Israel where she plays professionally.
Littleton said she could “hear the interceptor missiles … blow up the missiles coming towards us and that was very scary,” adding, “We’re in survival mode.”
American Kristy Ellmer told ABC News that she and her partner Matt Carwell were in Dubai on vacation when the strikes against Iran began. She said they’re uncertain when they will be able to return home to New Hampshire.
“It was definitely very destabilizing … you could actually feel it and you could hear it,” Ellmer said of the explosions.
The State Department recommends Americans check each country’s Travel Information Page for developing details and entry requirements and enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, or STEP, for safety updates and information on how to get help in an emergency.
The shotgun and gas canister that were allegedly carried by 21-year-old man who was fatally shot, February 22, 2026, at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)
(NEW YORK) — A man authorities alleged was carrying a shotgun and a gas canister was fatally shot by U.S. Secret Service agents and a deputy sheriff early Sunday outside of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, according to the Secret Service.
The shooting unfolded around 1:30 a.m. local time near the north main gate of the estate, Rafael Barros, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Miami field office, said at a news conference later Sunday.
“We want to be clear: the president of the United States was not in the state of Florida,” Barros said.
No “Secret Service protectees” were at the property at the time of the shooting, according to a statement from a Secret Service spokesperson earlier Sunday.
The FBI identified the man killed as Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Moore County, North Carolina.
According to North Carolina state records, an individual named Austin Tucker Martin is listed as the founder of the business Fresh Sky Illustrations LLC. The business features various drawings of golf courses in North Carolina and is described on its website as “an artwork company that mainly focuses on bringing to life the hopeful feeling of being on a golf course.”
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at Sunday’s news conference outside of Mar-a-Lago that the individual was shot after he allegedly pointed the shotgun at the law enforcement officers.
Bradshaw said the man had made his way into the inner perimeter of Mar-a-Lago and that he was confronted by two Secret Service Agents and a deputy sheriff.
“They confronted a white male that was carrying a gas can and a shotgun,” Bradshaw said.
He later held up a printed copy of photo he said showed the weapon and canister.
“He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him, at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Bradshaw said of the alleged intruder.
“At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat,” Bradshaw said, adding that the individual was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Fortunately, nobody was injured inside because of the quick action that was taken by the deputy and the Secret Service,” Bradshaw said.
Investigators are determining how many shots were fired in the incident and whether the alleged intruder fired a shot at the law enforcement officers, who were part of the security detail at Mar-a-Lago, Bradshaw said. He added that it wasn’t yet known whether the shotgun was loaded.
The FBI is spearheading the investigation, said Brett Skiles, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami field office, adding that FBI personnel was on the scene collecting evidence.
A motive for the incident is unknown at this time, officials said.
Skiles asked residents living near Mar-a-Lago to check their exterior security cameras for footage from Saturday night into early Sunday morning for “anything that looks suspicious or out of place,” and to contact the FBI or the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office if they do.
