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Schools were never warned about Colt Gray, they claim
Local schools claimed they were never given the early warning about suspected Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray after he and his father were questioned about violent school threats made on a Discord server in 2023. A captain with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office told the FBI that the message had been passed along. FOX 5 I-Team's Johnny Edwards dug deeper.
JACKSON COUNTY, Ga. - The Jackson County sheriff says that what could have been an early warning about the 14-year-old suspected Apalachee High School shooter, Colt Gray, never reached area schools.
A former member of the sheriff’s command staff told the FBI that schools had been informed after the department questioned the teen about an online threat to shoot up a school. However, the sheriff told the FOX 5 I-Team on Tuesday that after weeks of checking records and even contacting the former captain, she’s found no evidence of any warning passed along to schools.
An investigator had questioned Colt Gray about a disturbing threat, just as he was finishing seventh grade over in Jackson County. That investigator’s supervisor later said in an email, "We have made area schools aware." They weren’t aware though. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum says, it’s because no one told them.
"I stand by the investigation. My regret is the school," Sheriff Mangum.
Colt Gray, Colin Gray (Barrow County Sheriff's Office)
The sheriff told reporters earlier this month how her department may have dropped the ball when it came to the suspected 14-year-old school shooter.
"If there was a breakdown in the school not notified, then of course I have a regret about that. And I don’t know what to say about it," the sheriff said.
However, there are no longer any "ifs" about it. Sheriff Mangum told the I-Team she spent the past two weeks checking her department's outgoing emails, checking phone records, and even checking with all three school systems in Jackson County, turning up nothing.
"The email to the FBI agent said area schools have been notified, and we here at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office can find no record through cell phones or emails that the school was notified, so it is pretty obvious to me the school was not notified back in 2023," the sheriff said.
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Colt Gray was questioned in 2023 for threats
Newly released body camera footage shows an interview last year between Colton Gray, his father and deputies who received word of threats made online to shoot up a middle school one year before Gray allegedly went on a shooting spree at Apalachee High School.
They were not notified about the conversation investigators and a deputy had with Colt Gray and his father, Colin. It was all caught on video. Colin Gray has been charged in the killings as well, accused of providing his son with the weapon authorities say he had used to kill two students and two teachers on Sept. 4. They were checking out a tip to the FBI that someone on the gaming app, Discord, had threatened to shoot up a middle school. At the time, Colt Gray was 13 and had just finished seventh grade at Jefferson Middle School.
Unable to substantiate anything, and lacking probable cause, the investigators left. About three hours later, an email from the department's head of criminal investigations, Captain Dale Dillow, was sent to the FBI reporting that Colt had denied making threats but, "We have made area schools aware and will monitor this subject."
Sheriff Mangum wasn't involved in checking on the Grays back in 2023. She had a challenge in that Dillow no longer works for her because she fired him late last year, after Dillow was caught on a hidden camera sneaking into the office of a fellow captain and political rival.
Jail cameras recorded Capt. Dillow the night he entered his political opponent's locked office. A hidden camera placed inside that office recorded what he did next.
Mangum is retiring at the end of this year. Last year, Dillow was one of four men running to replace her. Capt. Kevin McCook, who went on to win the race, said he noticed items on his desk had been moved. Then he set up a camera. The sheriff brought in an outside investigator. The FOX 5 I-Team obtained the interview recordings.
Since the shootings at Apalachee High School, Dillow has not responded to either phone messages or an email from the FOX 5 I-Team. The sheriff said she had a member of her command staff contact him.
Capt. Dale Dillow was fired after a hidden camera caught him using his master key to get into the office of his rival for Jackson County sheriff.
"The captain now has reached out to him, and he doesn’t remember the case, he told him. I haven’t talked with him," the sheriff said.
Again, Dillow’s firing is completely unrelated to what happened with Colt Gray.
Sheriff Mangum said she’s not sure what schools would have done if they had received that information from Dillow, and she’s doubtful the warning would have carried over to Barrow County, where the killings happened.