Dad told investigators last year suspected school shooter was struggling
Alleged Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray’s father said his son had been called “gay” by classmates in 2023 interview transcripts recently released by police.
Colin Gray, 54, has been charged in connection with Wednesday’s school shooting, which claimed the lives of two students and two adults in Georgia. Colt Gray, 14, is being tried as an adult in the shooting, which killed four and injured nine others.
GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING: NEW AUDIO OF ALLEGED SHOOTER, FATHER ENCOUNTER WITH POLICE OVER 2023 ONLINE THREATS
According to father Colin Gray in recently released police interrogation transcripts, “[Colt’s] gone through a lot.”
“[Colt] just wants us to have a simple life. All that like, he should be excited about getting into 8th grade. It just was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on by, you know, it went from one thing to another to, you know, he was talking to the couple friends he has,” said Gray.
The call, taken by Investigator Dan Miller in 2023, cast 14-year-old Colt as someone who had been picked on and “ridiculed” by classmates.
WHO IS THE ALLEGED GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTER? WHAT WE KNOW
“I was trying to get him on the golf team … like, ‘Oh look Colt’s gay. He’s dating that guy.’ Just ridiculed him day after day after day.”
Georgia is one of 42 states nationwide that holds parents criminally responsible on behalf of their children.
Authorities claimed that Colin knew and allowed his son Colt to have access to his firearms in the household ahead of Wednesday’s shooting. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office had visited the Gray household multiple times and had flagged the 14-year-old as a person of interest leading up to the shooting at Apalachee High.
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Colin is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Gray is being held at Barrow County Jail.
Gov passed over by Harris for running mate has warning about high-stakes debate
Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., cautioned hosts of ABC’s “The View” on Friday that former President Trump will prove a worthy opponent for Vice President Kamala Harris in their upcoming presidential debate.
Trump and Harris will face off in Philadelphia for the first time on Tuesday, in a debate moderated by ABC News. While Harris taking on the mantle of the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer has indeed shaken up the race, Shapiro told hosts on Friday that doesn’t change Trump’s skillset, one that even his critics should acknowledge.
“Listen, as much as we want to criticize Donald Trump — he’s a liar, he’s all these things … People know Donald Trump. He is a skilled debater. He is a guy who is willing to say anything at any time just to get through a question, and he’s a showman, he’s been on TV before,” Shapiro said. “So don’t underestimate Donald Trump.”
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He added further, “Now, I’ve known Kamala Harris 20 years. She is tough as nails. She’s a prosecutor. She’ll be prepared, as was said before. She’ll be ready to go. But this is going to be a tough debate.”
Earlier in the same segment, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin noted, “Kamala Harris is running a very different campaign than she did when she ran in the 2020 cycle. She’s moving to the center on a number of issues. She’s walked back previously held positions like calling for banning fracking.”
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She then asked the governor, “She’s gearing up to do this must-watch debate with former President Trump on Tuesday, do you think it’s a strategic mistake that she hasn’t explained some of these positions she’s changed on more ahead of the debate… because she’s obviously going to get challenged on some of these on a debate stage?”
Shapiro responded by suggesting, “I think it’s a sign of strength when you evolve on a position,” citing his own political experience.
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Shapiro was a finalist to be Harris’ running mate but was passed over in favor of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Shapiro’s state of Pennsylvania is considered perhaps the most important battleground in the 2024 election, with 19 Electoral College votes up for grabs. The past four presidential election winners have captured the state.
Rising Democrat gov addresses Bronze Star controversy: ‘It was an honest mistake’
AUSTIN, Texas– Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says he’s regretful over failing to correct past interviewers who wrongly claimed he was a Bronze Star recipient.
Moore, a rising star in the Democratic Party who served as an Army captain in Afghanistan, has been the target of critics after it was revealed he had included the prestigious military honor in his 2006 application for a White House fellowship, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The New York Times. Subsequently, he did at least two interviews where he was identified as a Bronze Star recipient but did not correct them at the time.
“It was an honest mistake that I made nearly 20 years ago, and I own it,” Moore told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday.
RISING DEMOCRATIC STAR ADMITS FALSELY CLAIMING BRONZE STAR AWARD
“When I was just coming back from a combat deployment, when I was now being thrust into a national media that I’d never been in before, when I was still very much dealing with a lot of the consequences of conflict,” he continued. “Should I have, in a long introduction, gone back and said something? In retrospect, I probably should have… And I take responsibility for that.”
Moore was misidentified as a Bronze Star recipient in a 2008 interview by the late “PBS NewsHour” host Gwen Ifill and in a 2010 interview with comedian Stephen Colbert on “The Colbert Report.”
Moore remains proud of his service and said his love for the country is “undying.”
“I joined the military when I was 17 years old. I chose to raise my hand and serve with the uniform of this country, the flag of the country on my shoulder, and to serve with one of the most elite units in the entire United States military,” Moore said. “I led soldiers, I led paratroopers in combat, and I was rated as a top 1% officer. My senior rater said I was the best lieutenant that they worked with in all of Operation Enduring Freedom, in the entire Afghanistan campaign.”
“I am deeply proud of my service. I’m deeply proud of the work that we did. I’m deeply proud of the work that I did, that I’m doing now to support veterans and veterans’ families now as the governor of Maryland. And I will always do that, and I will always be very proud of the service I did,” he added.
WES MOORE PRAISES WALZ FOR MILITARY SERVICE, COMPLETING ‘MISSION’ DESPITE RETIREMENT OUTRAGE
Moore first admitted his mistakes to the Times, but that didn’t stop his critics from linking him to the controversy surrounding Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whose military service record has been scrutinized since he joined the 2024 Democratic ticket.
The subject was broached during a conversation at the Texas Tribune Festival where he was asked whether Walz as well as his GOP rival Sen. JD Vance were having their military service “maligned.”
“It’s happened to me,” Moore told NPR’s Michel Martin. “Less than 1% of this country has worn the uniform of this country. And so when we’re talking about veterans issues, frankly, when you’re having a national conversation with this country, it’s more of a voyeuristic conversation because people haven’t experienced it.”
“I look at what’s happened to so many of these soldiers and airmen and Marines and sailors, how you’re watching this pushback from their service. Like, these are not people who raised their hands when the country asked. Like, these are not people who were willing to not just leave their families, but willing to leave their bodies when the country asked,” Moore later said. “And so, you know, I don’t have patience nor tolerance to be lectured by anybody, particularly from people who have no idea what they’re talking about and have no idea about the emotions that are going through that soldier or sailor or airman and Marine’s mind as they’re getting ready to say goodbye to their family, not knowing that’s the last thing they’re going to be able to say to them.”
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“And so whether we’re talking about Sergeant Major Walz, someone who’s devoted 24 years of his life wearing the uniform in this country and willing to leave it all on the line, or whether we’re talking about Corporal Vance, people who raise their hands as the country asked, I frankly just think that we have to remember that ‘Thank you for your service’ cannot just be a statement. There needs to be meaning behind it. And when we have two people who truly were willing to pay the highest price to be called American and who now we know that the next vice president of the United States will be someone who has worn the uniform of this country, no matter who wins in this thing. I just say there’s a deep sense of pride as a veteran that I have in that.”
According to the Minnesota National Guard, while Walz served as command sergeant major and long referred to himself as a retired command sergeant, he “retired as a Master Sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
Moore later addressed his own dust-up, explaining how he was instructed by his commanding officer and a former White House fellow to include the Bronze Star in his application.
“He told me that I was going to be awarded it. He instructed me, ‘Put it on your application,’ and the paperwork [for the Bronze Star] never processed,” Moore said.
“Because that never happens in the army,” Martin sarcastically chimed in.
“Yeah, because paperwork issues never happen in the army,” Moore also quipped with a chuckle. “And people have said, ‘Well, why don’t you go back and correct it,’ something that happened 20 years ago? The truth is I forgot about it. The truth is that I was just happy to make it home. The truth is that I didn’t serve because I was looking for a medal. I didn’t serve because I was looking for an award. I serve because I love my soldiers. I serve because I love this country.”
Moore added that he was “humbled” that his commanding officer, who learned that the governor never received his Bronze Star after hearing the reports, told him he was going to “resubmit” him for the honor.
RISING DEMOCRATIC PARTY STAR GOV. WES MOORE SAYS HE DOESN’T ‘SPEND MUCH TIME LISTENING TO DONALD TRUMP’S FOOLISHNESS’
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Despite his remorse, the Democratic governor chalked up the attacks against him as “foolishness.”
“I don’t have time to play these games. I’m too busytrying to make the lives of Marylanders better. I’m too busy trying to make sure that our veterans are taken care of,” he said.
“I don’t have time for foolishness. I never have. I never will. And so I think the thing that we do- what real patriots do- we keep our heads down and do the work, and that’s how I respond to this,” he later added.
Social media takes clear stance after friend refuses to split dinner bill evenly
A person took to the Reddit platform asking for advice after refusing to pay a bigger portion of the dinner bill for a smaller order.
The Reddit user claimed to have gone to a nice dinner out with a group of five friends but wasn’t too hungry.
“We went to a pretty nice restaurant, [and] I wasn’t that hungry, so I just ordered a small appetizer and a drink, which totaled around $15,” the person said.
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“However, most of the others ordered multiple courses, drinks and desserts, with their meals adding up to over $50 each.”
The user said that when the check arrived at the end of the meal, a friend at the table suggested the six of them split it evenly.
“That would’ve meant I’d be paying around $50, which is way more than what I ordered,” the Redditor wrote.
After noting he or she wasn’t comfortable paying that amount, two of the friends at the table “got annoyed” and said the Reddit user was “being cheap.”
REDDIT USER UPSET ABOUT BEING ASKED TO SPLIT MOTHER’S LUNCH BILL WITH SISTERS, WHOSE CHILDREN ALSO ATE
But the person responded by standing firm and only paying for his or her specific portion of the meal.
Later on, however, the Redditor said the situation was brought up in the friend group’s text message chain.
The user said, “One of them brought it up again, saying I ruined the vibe of the night by being difficult over a few dollars and that splitting evenly is what friends do.”
The user asked others on the platform if he or she was wrong, saying it felt “unfair to me to pay for everyone else’s expensive meals when I didn’t really eat much.”
COUPLE REFUSES TO TIP AFTER WAITRESS ASKED THEM IF THEY WANTED TO SPLIT THE BILL, WOMAN CLAIMS
Other users took to the comments to discuss the matter — and many agreeed with the post writer by saying the person was not wrong.
One user wrote, “It’s hilarious that they accuse OP [the original poster] of being cheap when they [the friends] were the ones who don’t even want to pay for what they ordered.”
Another said, “Your friends had a chance to do the reasonable thing at the restaurant and got irritated instead — and then they dragged it out after.”
California-based etiquette expert Rosalinda Randall told Fox News Digital that the user should have simply split the bill if the person thought it was going to cause an issue.
“In some cases, it’s too difficult or awkward to split the check to match whatever you consumed. Pay up,” Randall said.
Randall suggested thinking of the charge as “an investment for being a part of the group and for having a good time.”
If on a tight budget, the etiquette expert suggested planning in advance for these social outings.
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“Whether it’s just drinks and appetizers or a full meal, if you have budget concerns, you don’t drink, or just order a small salad, discuss it with your friends in advance,” she said.
“Don’t wait until the check arrives to break it to them.”
She recommended cutting back on other expenses during the week, declining to go to events, requesting a separate check or bringing cash to the meal.
Overall, however, she said, “If relationships have history, you all get along, and it has many positive aspects. Don’t let an off-balanced split check split up the relationship.”
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She added, “Don’t let a few dollars ruin your relationship or get you on the ‘do not invite’ list.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Reddit user for further comment.
Suspected Venezuelan gang members released from custody on $1,000 bond
Two suspected Tren de Aragua gang members and Venezuelan nationals have been released from custody on $1,000 bond, according to police.
Nixon and Dixon Azuaje-Perez were arrested by Aurora Police in relation to a July 28th shooting on charges of evidence tampering.
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According to a spokesperson for Aurora PD in an email to Fox News Digital, “they both posted $1,000 bond.”
The bond release goes directly against ICE, which had requested detainers for both Nixon and Dixon.
Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky critiqued the actions of the Aurora PD in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital .
ICE CONFIRMS AURORA, COLORADO GANG MEMBERS ARE IN THE UNITED STATES ILLEGALLY, RELEASED BY BIDEN ADMIN
“At some point, the city of Aurora and the state of Colorado have got to get serious about this. This is just a shame. I’d like to know what the Aurora PD has planned to monitor these two now they’ve been released on bond,” said Jurinsky.
Nearby Denver, Colorado is a sanctuary city, meaning officials do not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The two suspected Tren de Aragua gang members are Venezuelan nationals and crossed the southern border illegally in 2023.
Both Nixon and Dixon Azuaje-Perez were apprehended at Eagle Pass, Texas by Border Patrol agents last August. The two were then given notices to appear and released into the country awaiting their court dates.
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The Aurora Police Department has not yet responded to Fox News Digital’s follow-up request regarding monitoring the two released prisoners.
On Thursday, in a display of abject shamelessness that I wish I could say was rare, Vice President Kamala Harris and her toadies in the media used the tragedy of a school shooting to lie about JD Vance in close to the most disgusting way possible.
The GOP vice presidential nominee was giving remarks about the horrific school shooting in Georgia this week that left 4 dead, when he said, “I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho, and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security, so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children, they’re not able.”
From this utterly sensible and sensitive position, the Associated Press somehow wound up with an X Post headlined, “JD Vance says school shootings are a ‘fact of life,’ calls for better security.”
The clear purpose of this purple prose was to give the impression that Vance was downplaying the importance of school shootings, when in fact, he was addressing them head on. AP later took down the post, admitting its lie, but not before 2.5 million people were exposed to it.
VANCE SPOX BLASTS AP FOR ‘BRAZENLY LYING’ WITH OUT OF CONTEXT SCHOOL SHOOTING QUOTE: ‘LOST ALL CREDIBILITY’
Not to be outdone, the Harris X account posted the video clip with the header “JD Vance responds to the deadly shooting in Georgia by saying school shootings are just ‘a fact of life,’ and attacking common sense gun safety reform.”
A later statement added an allegation that Vance said of the shooting, “we have to get over it” which is simply a bizarre fabrication.
What’s so bitterly dishonest and insidious about this form of lying is that the video that disproves the claim is right there, you can just click on it and see that Vance is in no way diminishing or downplaying school shootings.
But it doesn’t matter because the Harris team knows that the vast majority of X users won’t click the video, won’t see the truth, and worse, they will assume that the mere presence of the video constitutes proof. Just as most of the 2.5 million who saw the original AP headline will never see a correction.
From the moment Kamala’s start up campaign began the liberal media has been complicit in lie and after lie. Suddenly she had never been Border Czar, we were also told she secured the nomination from a grass roots, bottom up movement, something Gov. Gavin Neswom openly mocked and laughed about on a recent podcast.
Just yucking it up about a major lie foisted on Americans by Democrats.
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Oh, and by the way, Kamala Harris, once the most liberal leaning member of the senate, who ran to the left of Joe Biden in 2019 was never actually a liberal at all. Donald Trump just made that all up.
The conventional wisdom today, born out by the numbers, is that the Harris campaign is stumbling. One thing they might consider, in an effort to turn that around, is to stop obviously and blatantly lying to the American people on a daily basis.
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Voters flat out don’t believe all these fantastical flip-flops. An RMG Resources poll released Friday showed that on fracking 42 percent of those surveyed said Harris still wants to ban the practice compared to 26 percent who said she didn’t. 41 percent think she wants Medicare for all, only 23 percent believe she holds a new position. And 55 percent believe Harris opposes a border wall, and let’s be honest, they’re probably right.
The cost of Kamala and the media’s constant lying goes well beyond the outcome of one election. In fact, it tears at the very fabric of America’s unique political enterprise.
There will likely only be one debate between Donald Trump and Harris this cycle, by Harris’ request. Why? Because debates risk exposing her lies.
Harris refuses to do press conferences or interviews. Why? Again, her lying is so obvious that even a softball on MSNBC threatens to expose it.
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Furthermore, this kind of behavior and lack of accountability from the leader of the Democratic Party and its media wing invites the very cynicism we see so prominently in our society, where trust in every single one of our institutions is at all-time lows.
Please, Madame Vice President, we all know that you are speaking, and we all want to hear what you have to say, but could you please start telling the truth?
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Trump torches NFL over major change to kickoff: ‘What are they doing?’
The drastic changes to the NFL’s kickoff caught the attention of former President Donald Trump on Friday, as he blasted the change in a post on Truth Social.
“I can’t believe the NFL is effectively getting rid of the always exciting Kick Off Return. Such an exciting part of football. What are they doing? BEGINNING OF THE END!” Trump wrote.
The NFL’s new kickoff rule has dramatically changed the function and aesthetic from what old-fashioned fans are used to, causing some confusion early in the season.
The new rules have changed the alignment of both teams, while also incorporating various zones that play a key role in what players are allowed to do.
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Now, all kicking team players will have to line up with a foot on the receiving team’s 40-yard line, compared to when they had to line up all the way back at their own 35-yard line. The kicking team’s players must also wait until the ball hits the ground or the player is in the “landing zone” or end zone to start running. The “landing zone” is from the receiving team’s 20-yard line to the goal line.
Meanwhile, the receiving team has a designated “setup zone” which is a five-yard area from the 35-yard line to the 30-yard line, where at least nine players must line up facing the kicking team.
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There, at least seven of those nine players must have a foot on the 35-yard line. Those not on the 35-yard line will need to be in the setup zone outside the hash marks. Additionally, like the kicking team, the receiving team players cannot move until the kick has hit the ground or a player in the landing zone or the end zone.
The purpose of the changes was to reduce the risk of injuries, as the kickoff has traditionally been the most dangerous play in football while also encouraging more returns. The previous rule involved players running at one another at high speeds from long distances, resulting in common high-speed collisions.
Kickoff rules have been adjusted several times before in response to the high risk of injury from play.
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In 2011, the league moved kickoffs forward five yards to the 35-yard line, making it easier to kick the ball deep into the end zone and leading to more touchbacks with teams starting at the 20-yard line. In 2016, touchbacks placed teams at 25, which further encouraged them. Then last season, returners could call for a fair catch anywhere, not just in the end zone, for a touchback, resulting in the lowest return rate in NFL history.
So, now the league is using this new rule to ensure safety while promoting returns.
This new rule is inspired by the kickoff rules from the XFL – a now-defunct lower-budget competitor to the NFL. However, the XFL merged with the USFL to create the UFL this year, and that league ironically uses the traditional kickoff.