Georgia school shooter alleged to have obsession with Parkland killer, left behind 'Easter eggs' as twisted tribute

By MELISSA KOENIG, US REPORTER and ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: 05:57, 28 July 2026 | Updated: 05:59, 28 July 2026 A Georgia teenager who fatally gunned down two students and two teachers in 2024 had been obsessed with prior school shooters and even left behind 'Easter eggs' as a tribute to them, a court heard on Monday. Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty Friday to 55 counts, including murder, in the September 4, 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School that took the lives of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, as well as students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, with seven of them being struck by gunfire. Murder carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, and it is up to Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm to decide whether he will have the possibility of parole after hearing testimony and considering evidence. As the hearing continued on Monday, prosecutors presented a trove of evidence showing Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, idolized mass killers and sought notoriety from the shooting. He had initially focused on Adam Lanza, who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, as well as James Holmes, who killed a dozen people in a Colorado movie theater, forensic psychologist Dr Kevin Richards testified. But Gray had a particular interest in Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who killed 17 people. The teen had been so obsessed with the killer that some of his messages on the True Crime Community Discord group became sexual in nature, he noted.  When some of his online messages were then read in court on Monday, Gray was seen closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Colt Gray , 16, pleaded guilty Friday to 55 counts, including murder, in the September 4, 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, as well as students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, were killed in the rampage The forensic psychologist claimed Gray had a 'chaotic' upbringing, moving around frequently as he was in and out of school, which led him to become more isolated. Gray's parents were both on drugs at various times, had significant financial struggles and were at times neglectful, Richards noted, describing him as a 'lonely, dysfunctional kid' fascinated by mass shooters. 'He didn't have like a normal childhood, where he had friends and things to do,' the psychologist testified. 'It kind of drove him into a very isolated position.'  'He had just kind of disappeared into Discord and disappeared into the true crime community,' Richards added.  By the time he carried out the shooting, Gray had more than 2,000 photos of Cruz saved on his phone and had 16 photos of Cruz printed and posted on his bedroom wall, Ashley Gilleland, an investigator with the district attorney´s office, testified. Similarly, he saved photos of other mass shooters and searched for details of those shootings, Gilleland said. The day before the shooting, he also took a selfie with his Cruz shrine in the background, prosecutors said, according to the Athens Banner-Herald.  Gray even once wrote a love letter to Cruz, who is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in Florida, but it was returned and labeled harassment, District Attorney Investigator Ashley Dillon testified. The gunman then tried to communicate with a person he believed was Cruz's cellmate – alerting him that something would happen on September 4, 2024 and that Cruz should stay in contact.  The school shooter was said to be obsessed with Nikolas Cruz (pictured), who killed 17 people in a Valentine's Day shooting in 2018 Gray also mimicked Adam Lanza, who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut , and James Holmes, who killed a dozen people in a Colorado movie theater After he then carried out the rampage at Apalachee High School, prosecutors said Gray mimicked other school shooters in interviews with investigators by 'planting Easter eggs' for the true-crime community. On the morning of the shooting, he disassembled his computer and laid it out on his bedroom floor just like Lanza did.  He also told investigators he had hallucinations and may have blacked out during the shooting, as Cruz had claimed. Gray even lied about having called a suicide hotline right before the shooting, which Holmes had done, District Attorney Brad Smith said.  'It seems like he already [had] those things ready to say,' the prosecutor claimed, calling these 'Easter eggs' that Gray was planting to 'gain fame and status' within the online community that fetishized those killings. 'Individuals who do carry out these attacks do seem to understand the type of content the community would be interested in,' said Peter Smith, an extremism researcher who testified as an expert witness for the state.  'They tailor what they're leaving behind for media and researchers to find.'  Gray was seen hanging his head and pinching his nose as his Discord messages were read in court on Monday Prosecutors then presented some of the messages Gray made on Discord, much of which were sent to a user named 'Mandy,' whom he told of his love for Cruz to the point of performing a sexual act, the Banner-Herald reports. In one online conversation just days before the shooting, Gray mentioned September 4. When the person he was chatting with then asked what was happening that day, he wrote, 'something i have for nik!' – an apparent reference to the Parkland shooter's first name.  He also noted that day was a Wednesday, just like the Parkland shooting, and said the shooting was his way 'to prove my love and affection' for Cruz. The court had previously also heard how Gray told investigators following the shooting that he had become 'obsessed' with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas gunman. He said that the obsession happened 'on an emotional level I could understand the trauma and stuff that he went through.' He also admitted to having made an account on a jail messaging app to message Cruz about a week and a half before the shooting, but did not receive a response. Police are pictured responding to the scene of the shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia on September 4, 2024 Four ppeople died and nine people were injured in the shooting at the high school When Gray then tried to explain why he perpetrated the shooting, the teenager repeatedly sobbed. 'I think my teachers are against me,' Gray said. 'I see them whispering to each other in the hallway and plotting against me.' He added that he 'wanted to do something to get them away from me.' Gray used a SIG Sauer M400 rifle to carry out the shooting. He told police that he had 'just grabbed whatever was closest.' Gray revealed that he had told his dad to hide his guns days before the shooting happened. The teen said that he had been 'thinking about it for years,' as he discussed his mental struggles. 'It's only gotten worse,' Gray said. 'I finally just now get to the point where I wanted to reach out and get help.' But Barrow County Sheriff's Office Investigator Jason Smith said Monday that he believed 'a majority of that interview to be performative.' When Gray later wrote letters apologizing to the victims' families, Smith also said he did not believe the apology was genuine. 'I believed they were for attention,' he testified.  Ashley Gilland, an investigator with the Barrow County District Attorney's office, looks over the assault rifle used in the Apalachee High School shooting by suspect Colt Gray during Gray's sentencing at Barrow County Superior Court on Monday Prosecutors also noted that in phone calls with his mother while he was in custody just over one month after the shooting, Gray asked her to search online mentions of his name within the 'true crime community' and got excited when she found 'fan art' drawings of him.  At the same time, though, Gray discussed with his mother how he could get a not guilty by temporary insanity plea. But when Richards was presented with the issue, he said he never believed the teenager was 'anywhere in the neighborhood of insanity' and that he and his mother could 'talk about it until the cows came home.'  'I don´t think he was driven by hallucinations or delusions to do what he did. I think he planned it out,' Richards said.  Still, he said he believes Gray has stunted interpersonal and emotional development, paranoia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety – and testified that the shooter could benefit from therapeutic intervention.  The teenage shooter's father, Colin Gray, is also expected to be sentenced this week As the sentencing hearing now continues, the judge will be able to hear from Gray himself. Meanwhile, the teen's father, Colin Gray, is also expected to be sentenced this week after a jury in March convicted him of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.  Prosecutors said he gave his son the assault-style rifle used to open fire at the school.