Colin Gray trial: Students testify about the moments after shooting started at Apalachee High School

Apalachee High School students took the stand in court on Tuesday as part of the trial of Colin Gray, the father of a teen investigators say killed two teachers and two students and wounded others during a school shooting in 2024.

Gray faces 29 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and second-degree cruelty to children related to the shooting at the Winder high school.

During Tuesday's testimony, 23 witnesses took the stand, including two teachers and multiple students.

The students recounted through tears seeing a classmate in a pool of blood, then seeing blood on their own bodies.

A ninth-grade girl saw a hole in her wrist and began screaming moments after the gunfire began in her Algebra I class, she testified Tuesday.

"I was also worried that I was going to die and how that would affect my parents because my dad has a heart problem," she said.

As paramedics carried her out of the school building, she saw Colt Gray on the floor with his hands behind his back and screamed obscenities at him as she passed by him.

"I remember yelling at him that we were kids, because we were kids," she said. 

Another student described the scene at the high school as "chaos, screaming, people on the floor."

One girl who had sustained a gunshot wound to her shoulder, described the feeling as if her injured arm was "frozen off." While her physical wounds may have recovered, the emotional toll of the shooting remained present.

"Just seeing what I saw that day, it just sticks with me ... and not being able to trust certain people, trust people," she said.

Due to the Judge Nicholas Primm's previous order, the testifying minors were not seen on camera, instead, only their audio was recorded.

A father and son 

Colin Gray should be held responsible for providing the weapon despite warnings about alleged threats his son made, Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said as the father's trial began this week.

"This case is about this defendant and his actions in allowing a child that he has custody over access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that that child was going to harm others," Smith said in his opening statement.

Prosecutors argue that amounts to cruelty to children, and second-degree murder is defined in Georgia law as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children.

Investigators have argued that Gray was aware that his son's mental health had deteriorated in the weeks before the shooting and that the teen was fascinated by school shooters. A year prior, they say he gave the teen an assault-style weapon as a Christmas gift and purchased a laser sight, tactical vest, and ammunition for him — the same used in the Apalachee shooting. 

But Brian Hobbs, an attorney for Colin Gray, said the shooting's planning and timing "were hidden by Colt Gray from his father."

"That's the difference between tragedy and criminal liability," Hobbs said. "You cannot hold someone criminally responsible for failing to predict what was intentionally hidden from them."

Colt Gray was indicted on a total of 55 counts, including murder in the deaths of four people and 25 counts of aggravated assault. He has pleaded not guilty, but a lawyer for the teen said during a hearing in May that his client would likely be ready to plead guilty after a psychologist's report was prepared.

New lawyers have started representing the teen since then. At a brief hearing in December, the judge said a status hearing in the case would be held in mid-March.

The Associated Press and CBS News contributed to this report.