More charges to be brought on a 14-year-old suspect in Georgia high school shooting says prosecutor

(6 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Winder, Georgia - 6 September 2024
1. Tracking Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brad Smith and Chief Assistant District Attorney, Patricia Brooks walk to press
2. Cutaway of Smith and Brooks
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Smith, District Attorney, Piedmont Judicial Circuit:
"The next step in the process will be grand jury. The grand jury has already been in paneled and been hearing cases. Their next scheduled meeting is going to be October 17th. That is closed to the public. So you will not be able to see that. After that, he will have a scheduled arraignment. I don't have a date for that yet. And then we will start the trial process at that point."
4. Cutaway of Smith and Brooks
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Smith, District Attorney, Piedmont Judicial Circuit:
"There will be additional charges on Colt Gray. When he was taken into custody on Wednesday. We did not have the identities or the conditions of the other victims, so we were not able to charge on those offenses. So when the evidence comes in and they've been they have a chance to heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually, we will get with them. And there will be additional charges that address the other victims in the case. I do not know if there will be charges on Colin Gray. There may be, depending on how the investigation comes forward."
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6. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Smith, District Attorney Piedmont Judicial Circuit:
Reporter: "How unprecedented is it to charge a parent in connection to a shooting?
Brad Smith: "My understanding is this is the second time in the United States and the first time in Georgia."
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7. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Smith, District Attorney Piedmont Judicial Circuit:
"Second-degree murder is different in Georgia than in other states. It's a rather new, charge, and it is specifically geared towards cruelty to children in the second degree. If you commit cruelty to children in the second-degree that causes a death -- that is second-degree murder. And so the two children that were killed would be the second-degree murder. It would not apply to the adult decedents."
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8. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Smith, District Attorney Piedmont Judicial Circuit:
"I know there will be additional charges for Colt because we never addressed the other victims. There may be, I cannot say, for Colin until we get the investigation completed."
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9. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Smith, District Attorney Piedmont Judicial Circuit:
"You don't have to have been physically injured in this to be a victim. Everyone in this community is a victim. Every child in that school was a victim. As you probably know more than me, the crimes are continuing around our community with people making threats and doing terrible things. And so, yeah, there's victims all over the place, and I feel the weight of all of that."
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10. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Smith, District Attorney Piedmont Judicial Circuit:
"The judge was simply reading the possible penalties that exist for felony murder. So that's what he was. He's talking generalities. He knows nothing about the facts of this case. He's an impartial judge. He's just reading the generalities. And for felony murder, the death penalty is normally one of those. The Supreme Court of the United States a while ago, he stated it's unconstitutional for anyone under the age of 18. So after the fact, we told him, it reminded him that it was not an option for this case. And so he brought the child back out to tell him that."



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