CNN
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A deadly start to the school year in a small north Georgia town left the community “heartbroken” Friday after a 14-year-old mass shooting suspect and his father were charged in connection with the shooting that left two students and two teachers dead this week, authorities said.

Colt Gray, a student at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, is charged with four counts of murder after investigators say he fired an AR-style rifle on campus Wednesday morning, killing four people and wounding at least nine others, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

“A young person took a gun to a school and committed a bad act. He took lives and injured many other people — not only physically but mentally,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said at a news conference Thursday night.

Meanwhile, authorities have moved to hold the teen’s father, Colin Gray, 54, accountable after charging him Thursday with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the GBI said.

CNN is working to determine if Colin Gray has legal representation. When reached by phone Thursday, the Barrow County Public Defender’s office could not confirm whether they were representing him and had no comment. CNN made multiple attempts to reach Colin Gray by phone and in person at the family’s home.

“These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son Colt to possess a gun,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said at Thursday’s news conference.

Wednesday’s mass shooting was the 45th school shooting in 2024 and the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since the March 2023 massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville, which left six people dead.

Here’s what we know so far:

• Mass shooting suspect to be tried as adult: Colt Gray, who is being held by the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, will remain there until he turns 17, despite his case being moved to the adult system, agency spokesman Glenn Allen told CNN on Thursday. Under Georgia law, a minor between the ages of 13 and 17 who commits a serious crime is automatically tried as an adult. Colt Gray is expected to make his initial court appearance on Friday and is cooperating with investigators, authorities said.

• Victims of shootings have been identified: Wednesday’s deadly shooting at Apalachee High School left two 14-year-old students — Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn — dead, as well as two teachers — 53-year-old math teacher Cristina Irimie and 39-year-old assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, who also taught math. According to a family friend, Irimie was celebrating her birthday with her students on the day she was shot.

• The hospitalized victims are expected to make a full recovery: The nine other people hospitalized after Wednesday’s shooting are expected to fully recover from their injuries, Smith said Thursday.

• Suspect in last year’s mass shooting questioned over online threats: In May 2023, law enforcement officers interviewed Colt Gray and his father about “online threats to commit a school shooting,” which included photos of weapons, according to a joint statement from FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time, told investigators during that interview that “someone accused him of threatening to shoot up a school, and that he would never say something like that, even in a joking way,” authorities said. According to the sheriff’s office, authorities were unable to substantiate the threats and the investigation was closed.

• Other schools also received threats, researchers say: Apalachee High School received a threatening phone call Wednesday morning, before shots were fired on the school’s campus, warning of shootings planned at five schools, including Apalachee High, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN. It’s unclear who made the call and investigators have found no evidence that other schools were targeted, but they are looking for “leads of possible associates of the shooter involved in this incident,” Hosey said.

• Suspect’s father bought gun involved in shooting as gift: Before the charges against Colin Gray were announced Thursday, two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said he told authorities he had purchased the AR-style rifle used in the Apalachee High School shooting as a Christmas present for his son in December 2023. That would place the purchase of the weapon months after authorities first contacted Colin Gray and his family while investigating a school shooting last year.