State investigators testified Tuesday that Colt Gray’s father revealed his 14-year-old son had become aggressive and needed mental health counseling in the months leading up to the 2024 assault at a Georgia high school.

Colin Gray, 55, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of child abuse and five counts of reckless conduct. his son, colt gray, The suspect is accused of opening fire at Apalachee High School on September 4, 2024, killing two students and two teachers and injuring nine others.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Kelsey Ward, who interviewed Collin Gray about three hours after the shooting, told the court that Colt would try to fight him and that she tried to get help for her son by contacting counselors and mental health facilities to explore inpatient treatment options.

But despite this alarming behavior, Gray said he still wanted to get his son involved in deer hunting to help cope. According to a recording of the interview played in court, Gray told Ward that after they bonded on a hunting trip, she told her son that “Santa Claus might get him a firearm.” He added that he bought his teenage son a rifle for Christmas.

“He shot his first deer in the woods. We bonded. It was like the best day ever,” Gray told Ward during the interview. “In my heart of hearts, I swear to God, from that moment on, I knew he was going to be perfect.”

Still, Gray told Ward she saw troubling warning signs.

A few days before the shooting, Gray told Ward that she had seen a poster for the movie. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Gunman Nikolas Cruz painted on the wall of his son’s room. Gray said she didn’t know who Cruz was, but when she asked her son, he told her, “He was one of the guys who committed the last school shooting.”

Ward said Gray recalled giving her son a “pep talk” the day before and the morning of the shooting, encouraging him to go to school after a day off.

“Let’s make a plan and we’ll figure it out,” he recalled telling his son, adding that his son told him he was proud of him.

On the morning of September 4, 2024, Gray recalled receiving a disturbing email from her son that said things like, “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault,” and “You’re not responsible for anything.” Gray told Ward that she quit her job after receiving these messages and tried to contact her son.

When Gray returns home and looks inside Colt’s room, he notices that the AR rifle he had kept in the corner of the room is no longer there.

Ward said Gray told her he could not imagine his son doing what he was accused of.

“I mean, how in the world is he going to walk across the yard with a long rifle and get on the bus? There’s no way this could be him,” Gray told Ward.

Text messages shown in court show Gray asking his daughter, Jenny Gray, if her brother Colt had contacted her on the day of the shooting. Jenni attends Hayman Morris Middle School, right next door to Apalachee High School, and told her father she was scared while the building was on lockdown.

“No,” Jenny answered her father. “But I don’t want to talk about it over text because I think we’re thinking the same thing.”

“Yes, it’s 10:04 and I’ll be here in a little while,” Gray wrote to her daughter.

Jeni also testified in court on Tuesday and said her father and brother sometimes fought both physically and verbally. Jenni is a year younger than Colt and currently lives with foster parents.

“There would have been a lot of punches thrown, shoves, a lot of contact,” Jenny said of the fights between her father and brother, adding that Colt instigated much of the fight.

She said her father had talked about getting Colt psychological help, but “didn’t really know how to take the first step.” Her father sometimes asked her for advice on how to help Colt.

“I didn’t really know how to respond because I didn’t expect an adult to ask me for advice about that,” Jenni said. “But when I responded, I was just, you know, trying to get him to talk to other adults about it.”

Jeni said her father never stored guns in the house in a secure manner and never restricted Colt’s access to them, despite her concerns that her brother would have access to them. She also said her brother kept a photo of Cruz on his bedroom wall for several months.

The day after the shooting, on her way to a meeting with investigators, she said her father told her to “take his place.” She said she felt pressured to do so.

“He told me that if he asked me anything, I should basically try to cover for him, whether I knew Colt had a problem and that it would lead to this problem going forward. And especially with the painting on the wall, he told me not to say I know what it is,” Jenni said of the photo of Cruise.