The shooter was questioned in 2023 for online threats

The teenager who killed four people at a Georgia high school was questioned by police in 2023 over online threats.

A missed opportunity to prevent a shooting? After a teenager killed two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school, several US media outlets revealed that the suspect was questioned in 2023 about threats made online on the Discord platform.

On Monday, September 9, Georgia state authorities released body camera footage from officers who responded to the home of then-13-year-old Colt Gray to question him.

In the video, the teen denies threatening to shoot up a school and says he hasn’t had a Discord account for months. “I promise I would never say anything like that,” he says, adding that he only used the TikTok app on his phone “to watch videos.”

Weapon offered as a gift

“I have no choice but to take you at your word for now. But if we find out something different, it will be a different story,” the police officer replies.

Also questioned outside the family home, Colin Gray, the suspect’s father, told investigators that he was teaching his son to hunt in order to discourage him from playing video games and to encourage him to take part in outdoor activities. When asked if his son had access to firearms, he replied that they were “not loaded.”

Following the shooting, Colin Gray was arrested and charged with “knowingly allowing his son Colt to possess a weapon.” Citing unnamed sources, CNN earlier reported that the weapon used in the shooting was an AR-15 assault rifle – commonly used by mass shootings in the United States – and had been given to his son by the teenager’s father as a gift.

“How can you have an assault rifle in your home, not locked up, and know that your child knows where it is,” President Joe Biden said indignantly, for whom “we must hold responsible the parents who let their children have access to these weapons.”

The Apalachee High School shooting left four people dead, two 14-year-old students and two teachers, ages 39 and 53. Another teacher and eight other students were injured.