At Trial of School Shooting Suspect's Dad, Teen Survivors Testify

Students from a Georgia high school on Tuesday described, in stark detail, the 2024 campus shooting now at the center of a trial against the alleged gunman's father, NBC News reports. Colin Gray faces second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, child cruelty, and reckless conduct charges, accused of giving his son, Colt, access to a firearm. Colt, charged as an adult with four counts of felony murder, is accused of killing two students and two teachers and injuring nine others on Sept. 4, 2024, at Apalachee High School; his trial date has not been set. Prosecutors say Colin Gray bought Colt the AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting despite being told his son was a danger to others, CNN reports. The elder Gray has allegedly admitted the firearm was a 2023 Christmas gift for his son, WSB-TV reports.

Fourteen minors took the stand Monday and Tuesday. One student, Nautica Watson, recalled hearing a bang, seeing her teacher collapse, then realizing she herself had been shot in the leg before blacking out; she said she now has lingering pain, paranoia at school, and nightmares. Another, Natalie Griffith, testified she saw blood on her wrist after being shot twice and feared both for a friend in a different classroom and for her own parents' grief if she didn't survive. Classmate William Cariker told jurors he texted loved ones, "If I don't make it I love you all," as the shooter approached his door. Student Aryanna Norman said she needed anxiety medication afterward and is haunted by the image of classmate Christian Angulo, one of the two students killed, "laying on the floor, lifeless."