Deputies investigating an FBI tip that 14-year-old Colt Gray threatened to commit a school shooting last year were "unprepared" and "should have gotten" a warrant to search his electronic devices to further look into the alleged claims of violence, according to one law enforcement expert.
Responding officers with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office "chose to just chat with Colt instead of investigating the threats," former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer, criticized, in response to newly-released bodycam footage showing a May 2023 conversation between them, then-13-year-old Gray, and his father, Colin Gray, at their home in Jefferson, Georgia.
"The bottom line is that the LEOs (law enforcement officers) were unprepared, and they took Colin and Colt at their word without any investigation," Coffindaffer wrote in a scathing post on X Monday. "They needed to ask for consent to search his phone and devices. If it wasn't granted, they should have gotten a SW (search warrant) based on the FBI tip."
Oh mercy.
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) September 10, 2024
Attached is the BWC recording of LE's interview with #ColinGray and #Colt_Gray.
The bottom line is that the LEOs were unprepared, and they took Colin and Colt at their word without any investigation.
They needed to ask for consent to search his phone and devices.… pic.twitter.com/LKhFIV4Ey5
According to the nearly 20 minutes of footage, deputies first made contact with Colin, 54, when they showed up at the Gray's residence last summer.
Deputies informed Colin they were investigating an FBI tip that Gray allegedly made threats through chat platform Discord to commit a mass school shooting.
"I don't know anything about him saying s--- like that and I'm gonna be mad as hell if he did – and then all the guns will go away, and they won't be accessible to him," Colin said, explaining his son had access to firearms but "nothing loaded."
"I'm trying to teach him about firearms and safety," explained Colin. "He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do and how to use them and not use them, so it's (the allegations are) kind of a little bit of a shock."
Colin said his son had been the victim of bullying and moved schools frequently and that he was "up there all the time talking to the school," according to the footage.
Shortly after, Gray stepped outside to meet the officers, who explained to the teen they were investigating mass shooting claims allegedly made by him.
"I promise I would never say something like that," vowed Gray.
"I take you at your word and I hope you're being honest with me, but it's not unusual for people to lie to police," one officer responded. "But like I was telling your dad; if I find out otherwise, then it's a different story."
The case was closed after deputies claimed the threats couldn't be substantiated.
It wouldn't be until Wednesday that Gray would allegedly go on to use an AR-15 purchased for him as a gift from his father to fatally shoot two classmates and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
Gray has since been charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult, according to authorities.
His father, Colin, has also been arrested and charged with several counts of cruelty to children and involuntary manslaughter.
It's unclear if they entered pleas to the charges.
