New audio reveals alleged school shooter's dad's pre-shooting police interview

‘Not weird’ J.D. Vance tells rallygoers school shootings a 'fact of life'

“If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance told rally-goers Thursday in Phoenix, according to The Associated Press. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”

When he was asked by a journalist what could prevent school shootings, the Republican vice presidential nominee said stricter gun laws won't help, but praised Congressional efforts to boost security in schools.

“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” Vance said. “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 at our schools. We’ve 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.”

Betsey Stevenson, a former member of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers & chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor, pushed back at Vance's claim.

"They are not a fact of life. They do not happen in any other country but the United States," she said. "If they are a 'fact of life' for J.D. Vance that tells you everything you need to know about what he really thinks about supporting kids and families."

Vance's comments came after a 14-year-old gunman killed two classmates and two teachers at a Georgia high school on Wednesday. Nine others were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Last year, Georgia sheriff's deputies interviewed the teenager accused of killing two classmates and two teachers over his online threats to "shoot up a middle school," and a new recording shows his father downplaying the seriousness of the matter.

Officers with the Jackson County sheriff's office spoke face-to-face with Colt Gray on May 21, 2023, when he was 13 years old after the FBI tipped them off about a threat posted on the messaging app Discord, and found his father Colin Gray to be largely uncooperative, reported Fox News.

"He's going through a lot...very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on," Colin Gray said, according to a recording.

The elder Gray, who was charged with felony murder after the shootings this week at Apalachee High School in Winder, told the officer that he and the boy's mother had gotten divorced and then they were evicted.

"He struggled at first with the separation," he said. "I've been taking him to school. He goes to Jefferson Middle School. He's been doing really good."

The boy's father assures the officer that his son "knows how serious it is, trust me," but he claims he's been to the school multiple times and said Colt wants to leave the district because other students keep touching him and picking on him.

"Let me ask you this – do you have any weapons in the house?" the officer asks.

The father acknowledges that he does and admits they're accessible, but he insists that none of them are loaded.

"We do a lot of shooting, we do a lot of deer hunting," Colin Gray says. "He shot his first deer this year. Like, I'm pretty much in shock…I'm pissed off to be honest with you. I'm a little taken back by the whole thing, but I can tell you this, I take that very serious and so does he, as a matter of fact."

"I don't know anything about him saying s--- like that, and I'm going to be mad as hell if he did, and then all the guns will go away and they won't be accessible to him," the father adds. "You know, I'm trying to be honest. I'm trying to teach him about firearms and safety and how to do it all and get him an interest in the outdoors."

The officer suggests that he "get him away from the video game," and the elder Gray agrees.

"Yeah, exactly – right, that's the best," he says. "The God honest truth is, the picture on my phone is him with blood on his cheeks when he shot his first deer. It's just the greatest day ever. So sure, he knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do and how to use them and not use them. So it's kind of a little bit of a shock. So whatever y'all are telling him, please instill in him what if this is whatever or wherever some come from is no joke – no, like, it's no joke."

The officer said they wouldn't have come to their home if the matter wasn't serious, and Colin Gray then brings up school shootings.

"I know, and I'm telling you right now we talk about it quite a bit, all the school shootings, things that happen," he says. "Yeah, I hear you getting picked on at school – he is, he's getting picked on at school, and is everything okay? That's why I keep going up there. No, you know, because you just never you never really know, and I don't want anything to happen to him, so, yeah. "

The officer then asks to speak with the boy, who enters the room and is told investigators would write up a report on the matter, and the deputy then exchanged small talk about the end of the school year and his impending move up to high school.

Colt Gray, now 14, has been charged with four counts of felony murder and his 54-year-old father was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

The teen is expected to be tried as an adult.

Colin Gray told investigators he purchased the AR-15 rifle used in the killings as a holiday present for his son in December, months after they were questioned about the shooting threat.