00:01.
00:01Breaking news, the judge in the case of 16-year-old Colt Gray has sentenced him to life in prison
00:08without the possibility of parole.
00:10On Friday, he pled guilty to all 55 counts against him for the 2024 Appalachee High School
00:17shooting that left four people, including two teachers and two students, dead.
00:22I want to bring in CBS News correspondent Skylar Henry live for us now.
00:26Skylar, you've been following this story from the very beginning.
00:28Did the judge offer a reason behind his sentence?
00:33Yeah, Liz, good to see you as always.
00:36Over the last three days during the sentencing hearing, we have heard from the state, as
00:43they've called witnesses who have testified, experts really, and laid out a meticulous
00:51timeline of Colt Gray's obsession with mass shooters, especially school shooters, idolized
00:58them and having conversations about them on the website, social media website Discord, talking
01:04about what we saw in Uvalde, talking about what we saw at the Parkland High School shoot, or
01:10in Parkland, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School shooting there.
01:14Even dating way back to the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting, and just this obsession
01:21and wanting to gain notoriety and fame because of the acts that were carried out on those
01:27respective days.
01:28In addition to that, we've also heard from the, essentially the tumultuous home life for
01:34Colt Gray having to move around from place to place as his parents suffered from substance
01:43abuse and a financial neglect and all sorts of a range of issues that really presented
01:48a ton of challenges for him that sort of led to his mental health decline.
01:55And so we heard that today.
01:56The judge articulated that while also saying that the tragedy that unfolded on that day
02:02in September 2024 was far too much to bear to ever give Colt Gray an opportunity to be
02:09out in society.
02:11Now, here in Georgia, because of the time of the incident, as a 14-year-old, Colt Gray was
02:18not eligible for the death penalty, but he will be serving life in prison the rest of his
02:24natural born days without the possibility for parole.
02:29And I'm really struck and started to sit here and think, Liz, about the four who were killed.
02:35I'm thinking of Mason Skrmerhorn, whose parents we've got to know and build a great relationship
02:41with, and Christian Angulo, who was also 14 at the time, who was shot and killed.
02:46Ricky Aspinwall, the 39-year-old football teacher who we got to hang out with some of his teammates
02:52just last year, or some of his football kids just last year, and how they still are dealing
03:00with the tragedy while trying to move forward with a football season.
03:03And then, of course, Christina Aramee, the math teacher who everybody loved, in Apalachee
03:09High School as well.
03:10And really a community that has been reeling this entire time ever since what happened on
03:17September 4th. Earlier this year, during the trial for Colt Gray's father, Colin Gray,
03:23we heard from other witnesses and victims, some of whom still dealing with the post-traumatic
03:29stress from that day, others dealing with, quite literally, the injuries that were suffered
03:33that day. Speaking of Colin Gray, he is next to be sentenced. This same judge in this same
03:39courtroom has that task later on this week. He was found guilty on all the counts against
03:44him. Should be interesting to see whether this has any sort of impact in terms of a decision
03:49on what we will see with Colin Gray, citing most notably the neglect that happened inside of the
03:55household, which includes giving Colt the AR-15 style rifle that was used during the shooting
04:02as well. So really, it is the latest chapter and what I think many in Apalachee or in a winder
04:10are hoping will be the final chapter to really a tragic series of events.
04:15A tragic series of events on all fronts, no doubt. Skyler Henry, thank you so much.
